What the?
by ShadowPirate
Summary: Three teenagers get sucked into Tortall (and two of them are actually guys!) The first story in a trilogy...
1. Chapter 1

Dear readers: This is my first FanFic, but hopefully it won't suck to bad... anyway, the basic summary is that three unlucky (or lucky, you decide...) teenagers get sucked into the exciting world of Tamora Pierce, actually they get sucked into Tortall, but they find that it will be more trouble than they thought to actually get back to this world... Oh ya, I guess I should mention that this story will take place from different points-of-views, and also that I have no idea where this story is going. If anyone has done a story like this, I assure you, my version is purely accidental. I do not own any of Tamora Pierce's characters because they belong to her. Also, any familiarity with any of my own characters to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental... Here we go!  
  
Hello! My name is Alexander. I am an average (well, at least I think I am...) teenager of 17, 17 and a half if you want to be technical... Anyway, back to me, if you haven't figured it out yet, first of all you're an idiot, and second of all, I am a boy. I have Hispanic skin that I thankfully inherited from my mother and my father's mahogany hair, which I usually bleach just for the heck of it. I am average height, okay fine, I'm shorter than average, but only slightly, have dark brown eyes and, if I do say so myself, a rather muscular build. I am writing this story down because, frankly, I don't know if we will live to see the ripe old age of twenty, and second of all, I am REALLY bored and Phiona said that if I don't leave her alone she'll ring my neck... with her that threat isn't just a joke... Before the story starts, I guess I should go over a quick bio of my partners in crime so you don't get confused... (who am I talking to? It's not like anyone will find this anyway, and if they do, I hope I'm dead by then because this will probably turn out to be some good blackmail material...)  
  
Anyway... I'll start with Thomas because frankly I like him better at the moment...  
  
Thomas is 17, younger than me, but you wouldn't be able to tell...please don't make me go into detail for it will most likely deflate my enlarged ego. Right then.... back to Tom. Tom is my best bud in the entire world... I know that sounds juvenile but it is very true. We are so close he is like my brother, but that would make Phi my sister, which actually wouldn't be that bad, so never mind. Tom is a not-to-bad looking boy with brown eyes and blonde hair. He is lean and freakishly smart... I mean this guy could work for NASA's engineering program and be their top employee. Tom has the innocence of a ten year old, which gives him a very puppyish look. He is responsible, smart, trustworthy, smart, resourceful, smart, and protective of his little sister, which isn't really necessary, because other people need protection FROM her, like me for instance... which brings me to his sister, Phiona.  
  
Phiona is 15 years old, with the same brown eyes as Tom, but with slightly darker hair, like the color of bark on a redwood tree... Anyway... in most ways she is your average tomboy, and is actually pretty cool for a girl. Hmmmm... how to describe Phi... lets see, she is pretty cute, except I am defiantly NOT interested, for a number of reasons. One, she's my best friends little sister, second of all, she is defiantly not my type, and thirdly (is that a word? Because if it isn't it really should be.) being her boy friend would probably kill me. Like I was saying before, most of the time she is pretty cool, with a great sense of humor and adventure, but you do so not want to see her pissed off! When it comes to temperament, Tom and Phi are like Yin and Yang, like fire and ice, like the Light side and the Dark side of the force. Tom is patient even with the rudest of people, but if anyone tries to pull anything on Phi, she would flip out, which is not such a good thing considering she is an excellent fighter considering she is a girl. I think I'll start the story now, because this whole describe my best friends thing is getting weird considering that I know them all ready and every thing...  
  
I was in the middle of a great dream, I forget what it was, but I know it must have been pretty interesting considering how grumpy I was when I was suddenly, and rudely, interrupted.  
  
"Hey, Alex! Wake up ya lazy bum! It's time ta go! You're late!"  
  
Ah, Phi... how I despise her sometimes... At this point, still groggy from my beauty sleep, I did what any teenager would have done. I got up went to the window and threw it open. "Gees! Could you yell any louder! What are you trying to do wake up the whole neighborhood! Shessh!"  
  
I looked down on them from my two-story window and somehow felt very superior. Maybe it was because I was actually taller than Tom for once, or maybe it was just because I was still sleepy and had a hard object in my hand and an excellent shot at chucking it right at Phi's head and knocking her unconscious...  
  
Tom called up, "You had better get going Alex! We really do need to hurry!"  
  
"Ya, ya!" I shut the window with a slam and looked over at my digital alarm clock... it was 6 in the morning. I moaned and fell back onto my bed with a loud thump. Gee... hope mom didn't hear that...oh well... too tired to think of things like that...  
  
"Get outa bed and get dressed Alex, or I'll come up there and dress you myself!"  
  
Damn. I moaned again and sat up. Somehow Phi always knew what I was doing, which is really scary to think about...  
  
I quickly pulled a shirt and some shorts on and then began to tunnel under my bed to look for a clean pair of socks. After several minutes of excavating the piles of who knows what under my bed, I finally found a matching pair of socks. They didn't look clean, but then again, no one was really going to examine them anyway... I dragged myself to my mirror, the only hygienically related thing in my room, and ran my fingers through my hair. Good enough. Sometimes I feel sorry for girls and how they spend so much time on their hair every day. Then again, it does make me glad that I am a boy, and since it boosts my self-esteem, never mind, I never feel sorry for them.  
  
I walked out of my room and basically fell down the stairs, once again hoping that mom wouldn't wake up and once again not caring because I was too damned tired. I stumbled out the front door after having minor issues trying to open it, but then remembering that we locked our doors at night.  
  
Phi looked at me. "Finally. It took you long enough." I glared at her, partly because I didn't like her attitude, and partly because the rising sun was half blinding my eyes. I took in her outfit. She was wearing baggy kaki pants that hung just below her belly button, and a long sleeve shirt covered by a t-shirt with something printed on the front, which I couldn't read at the moment because the sun was blinding me. Her hair was down and hung just below her shoulder blades.  
  
"Why are ya dressed for cold weather? We're in California remember, and it's summer." I motioned towards my own shorts and t-shirt, "This is a proper outfit. Comfortable and casual, the perfect style for summer vacation."  
  
Tom looked at me "Um... Alex, we're staying out late remember... it gets cold at night...". I looked down at his attire. He was wearing baggy jeans with a hooded pullover sweatshirt on that read something that I once again could not read because of the freaking sun.  
  
"Oh..."  
  
"Come on! Let's go! We're gonna be late!" Phi grabbed me and shoved me into the back seat of Tom's car. Actually it was Tom's Dad's car, but who cares. Tom got into the front seat, and Phi jumped into the passengers seat.  
  
"Hey! Why do I have to sit in the back!"  
  
Phi answered "Because you were the last one in the car!" Tom usually didn't interfere with our little fights. Probably because he wouldn't know who to side with.  
  
"Where are we going again?" I asked. I seriously could not remember, maybe from my own stupidity, or maybe from the lapse of amnesia I suffered from when I received a concussion from Phi pushing me into the car.  
  
Tom replied, thank goodness. "We're going to the concert."  
  
Sorry, but I couldn't get them into Tortall. By the next Chapter they should at least find whatever zaps them there... hmmm... I'll have to think about it...  
  
A/N: Please R and R! I could use any helpful comments or ideas. Yes! I finally re-did it! Hope you enjoy the new formatting! 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This story is set from another point of view, Tom's, so don't let that confuse you.  
  
As I drove towards the park where the concert was going to be held, I listened to my sister and Alex fight. It is usually very amusing. Suddenly, some drunken driver swerved in front of my car and I slammed on the breaks. Phi and Alex went flying forward. "That's why you should put your seat belt on."  
  
Alex grimaced as he sat back down and grudgingly fastened his seat belt, "You probably did that on purpose..."  
  
I grinned. Alex always suspects me for playing jokes on him. I could, but I never do. Usually it's Phi that bothers Alex. I once asked her why she enjoyed to torture Alex and said told me that it was her hobby. Sometimes I don't understand her...  
  
When we finally reached the park where the concert was to be held, it was seven. Phi jumped out of the car before it even even stopped moving and danced around impatiently on the curb, waiting for us to join her. This was her first concert, and she had been talking about it for weeks.  
  
Alex and I got out of the car; actually Alex stumbled out of the car. I felt bad for him. He was defiantly NOT a morning person.  
  
I looked around and saw that the parking lot was practically deserted and no one else was around. "I guess we got here early..."  
  
Alex moaned and plopped onto a nearby tree stump. "I could still be asleep right now..."  
  
Phi walked over and pulled Alex onto his feet, "Come on! I want to get a good seat!" We followed her (although Alex was following unwillingly because she was pulling him along by his arm) as she walked into the small forest that was part of the park.  
  
I looked around dubiously. "Do you even know where we are going Phi?" I had only been here once before, but I had a pretty good memory, but none of this looked familiar.  
  
Phi stopped and looked around (causing Alex to ram into her because he wasn't paying attention and didn't see her stop.). She blushed, " Um...not really..."  
  
Alex threw both of his now free hands into the air, "Great! Just great! Now I'm tired AND lost!"  
  
Phi glared at him, "We're not lost...we just don't know where we are..."  
  
I left them to argue and quickly took a look around the small clearing that we had ended up in. "I think we should turn around and ho back to the parking lot."  
  
Alex stopped arguing and looked at me, "That's a good idea...What way did we come in?"  
  
"Ummm..." I spun around and then realizing with enormous disgust that I had completely disoriented myself by looking around the clearing. "I'm not sure."  
  
"It was this way. I'm 99.9 percent sure." Phi suddenly replied, and she began to walk west.  
  
"Well if you think it's that way, I'm going this way!" challenged Alex, and with that, he began to walk east.  
  
"I don't know about this Alex..." I answered uncertainly, "She is usually right about this kind of thing..."  
  
"Phi has to be wrong at least once in her life time! Let's see if I'M right for once!" Alex continued to walk east. I looked at Phi and we both shrugged and followed him.  
  
Phi grinned, "This should be interesting..."  
  
***one hour later***  
  
Alex was in front, leading us to who knows where. My feet were beginning to feel sore, and I could practically feel the impatience radiating off of Phi. She was not happy.  
  
She grumbled, "Ya think we would have reached the Atlantic Ocean by now..."  
  
"Shut up! Arrrrrgggghhhh! I hate it when you're right and I'm.... not!" Alex spun around and leaned against a tree. "Sooo... what do we do now..."  
  
Phi replied sarcastically, "We send up a flare and wait for the National Guard to rescue us..."  
  
I sighed, "Why don't we just walk west until we reach the clearing again?"  
  
Phi looked at me, "Good idea!". Sometimes Phi and Alex forgot to look for the obvious solution.  
  
We got up and began to walk back the way we came. Suddenly there was a strange humming and the air began to ripple. Phi walked over and pressed against me, the only way that she would show she was afraid. Alex looked around, "What the...?"  
  
Suddenly the air was ripped apart and a rift was opened in time and space. In seconds we were lifted off of our feet and sucked into the rift. I felt like I was being burned, drowned, electrocuted, and frozen all at once. I heard Phi and Alex's screams of pain, and I heard my own, even though my mouth was closed. This was scientifically impossible...this couldn't be happening...it couldn't... 


	3. Chapter 3

...My head hurts...I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. I was flat on my back on the forest floor. Tom and Alex were laying, supposedly unconscious, next to me. I moaned and sat up slowly, every muscle in my body screaming in pain. What the hell happened?  
  
I crawled over to Tom and shook him, "Tom...Tom wake up... ". He opened his eyes carefully and looked up at me.  
  
"Phi...you're all right...What about Alex..." he murmured.  
  
I glanced at Alex. He was face down in a pile of leaves. I looked closer and saw that he was breathing. "He's fine...I think...he's alive anyway..." I starred at my older brother for a view moment, taking everything in. Then I asked him, "Tom...what happened?"  
  
He sat up and brushed himself off. He looked at me strangely then shakily replied, "I...I don't know... ". Okay, now that was a scary thought. Tom, not knowing what was going on?!? But he ALWAYS knows, even when our parents are in the dark... A little shiver ran down my back as I looked around. We were in a forest, but it wasn't in California. The trees looked funny, and it seemed a lot older, and usually the outdoors didn't even phase me! But this place was just plain creepy...  
  
Alex stirred and lifted himself up onto his elbows. His face was covered in dirt. "*Gasp* ...can't breathe!!! Eww! There's dirt on my TONGUE!" He quickly spat dirt (well, now actually mud) and scrubbed his face clean with his arm. He took a quick glance around, then starred at Tom who was lost in thought. "Hey, bro!" Tom didn't even hear him. "Earth to Tom...this is ground control...please respond..." He gave up and turned to me. "What's up with him?"  
  
"He's trying to figure out where we are." I replied evenly. Suddenly my patience with Alex grew really thin, as I normally did. I don't know why, but sometimes I think that he doesn't have a clue what is going on around him...  
  
"Ohhh...You mean we're not in the park anymore?"  
  
"Nooo...."  
  
"Oh...so Tom, where ARE we?"  
  
Tom starred into space for a few moments longer than stood up and scanned our surroundings. Alex and I just sat there and watched him pace the small clearing we had ended up in. I was just about to lose my patience with both of them when suddenly Tom stopped and quietly mumbled to himself, "It's just not possible..."  
  
Alex and I looked at each other. Then I turned curiously to Tom, "What's not possible?"  
  
Tom turned and looked at us with a weird gleam in his eye. It was the same gleam that I remember him having when he started high school. Slowly and thoughtfully he explained, "It seems...that we have somehow been transported into another place or time... ". He looked down at me. "We should try to find some sort of...civilization."  
  
I zoned out for a moment, thinking of our current problem. "Right then...let's go!"  
  
Alex glared at me suspiciously, "Let's go where?"  
  
I sighed and looked at him. Sometimes he can be so shortsighted. "Let's go find some civilization!"  
  
Realization dawned on him. "Oh..." He stood up with a grunt. "OK, lead the way captain!" I laughed. He could be so weird sometimes. Actually more like all of the time...  
  
I stood up and was just to pick a random direction, when suddenly I heard a weird, disturbing, whispering voice. I looked at the boys. They had heard it too. I whipped around and scanned the ground. Then I looked up... 


	4. Chapter 4

Readers: Wahaha! Am I good or what! How did you like my first cliffhanger? Anyway, here's the next part of the story for all you who wanted to read it...Enjoy!  
  
A huge creature leapt from the treetops. The three screamed and jumped away, just as the monster landed where they had just been standing a second ago. It hissed and cried something incomprehensible to the three, but they did get that it wasn't very nice. They turned and ran as fast as they could.  
  
Alex was the last one and turned his head to see how close the thing was. The monster had what looked to be the body of a spider, a REALLY big spider, and an extremely ugly human head on its "shoulders".  
  
"Tom! What is that thing?!?" Alex shouted.  
  
"Biologically impossible!!!"  
  
Alex cried out with impatience, "Phi! Do you have any good ideas?!?"  
  
Phi looked back at him, "Ya... keep running!!!"  
  
Alex turned around and shouted in surprise. Rightly so...the spider creature was only a couple of yards away. Tom and Phi turned their heads at Alex's outburst, also seeing that the monster was catching up to them fast.  
  
All of a sudden, the three slammed into something that definitely wasn't a tree. They looked up and saw four very large horses looking down at them, fully equipped with riders. They heard a hiss behind them and turned around sharply. The front rider took out his sword and charged the creature with a quick shout, sending the creature hissing up a tree and out of sight, jumping from tree to tree as quickly as possible. Two of the other riders went after the first but one stayed next to them.  
  
The rider said something in an odd language and they just looked at him quizzically. Tom was studying the person intently, his eyes moving from the rider's spear down to the horse's hoofs. Phi and Alex were staring out into the trees, hearing screeches and other not so nice noises.  
  
"Tom, what the hell is going on here?" Phi asked, her voice a little shaky, but still strong. Tom snapped back into reality, remembering that his little sister had a phobia of spiders.  
  
"Well...I am slightly confused myself...but at the moment I would say we're being saved...by who I'm not sure yet..."  
  
Suddenly, they heard a shrill shriek and a loud "thump". Phi grabbed Tom's arm and squeezed it until the blood stopped flowing. Alex just starred, his eyes wide. Finally the three riders rode back onto the path, their swords splattered with dark red blood. Phi let out a small squeak and, relieved that the riders had survived, Tom gently pried Phi off of his now numb arm. The riders looked down at the three teens and said something that they still couldn't understand. The horsemen then pointed their spears at the teenagers, a motion that they understood perfectly despite their obvious cultural differences. Alex starred at the spear, which was now pointed at his chest, "Heh.." he gulped, "...spears...". Tom new Phi was getting annoyed with these people, and knowing what usually happened when she lost her patience, he took her arm and pulled her and Alex in the direction that the armed men were guiding them in. The riders made a box formation around the small party to cut off their escape routes and proceeded to herd them down the dirt path.  
  
Tom suddenly looked up, "Ha! I've got it!"  
  
Alex replied, "Got what?" He was slightly peeved at the moment from having a spear poking into his back, which had been pressed harder into his spine at Tom's outburst, and was in no mood for Tom's scientific conclusions. "And dude, keep it down, these guys are totally paranoid or something." He said, motioning to the uncomfortable weapon sticking into his back.  
  
Tom looked surprised and quizzical at Alex's upset tone, but then shook it off and continued his explanation happily, "Right then, accepting that these four aren't just lunatics dressed up in Halloween costumes, I've deducted that we have been transported into the Middle Ages, or something like it. Seeing that... biologically impossible humanoid-like being however, has rendered my "Middle Ages" theory obsolete, therefore, I believe we are in another dimension that has ended up progressing technologically much like the medieval times in our own world...with a few twists."  
  
Alex looked blankly at Tom, "okay...I was following you up to the part where you started talking about the middle ages. Would you mind repeating that in stupid-people's English for the rest of us?"  
  
As they walked on, the riders began talking among themselves quietly and occasionally looking back at the three. Phi, exasperated cried out, "Man! I hate being talked about and not knowing what people are saying!" The riders ignore her, and she raises her voice, "Hey! It's not like we can't hear you down here or anything!"  
  
That was a strange way to end a chapter, but I have to go do my Geometry homework (@#$%#@!) I hate math sometimes... anyway, please R and R! (That way I can have an actually excuse for postponing my homework!) 


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Thank you for being so patient with me over the last few days... Fan Fiction was updating its site so I had trouble logging on... Anyway, I tired to make this chapter a little longer to make up for all the lost time!  
  
Phi, Alex, and Tom were being lead by a small party of armed and extremely dangerous riders. The three teenagers were dumbfounded by their recent...umm...adventure. Phi was pale, probably from the spider monster incident and her slight case of Arachnophobia, Tom was completely zoned out contemplating about what the heck they were going to do, and Alex was looking around curiously and measuring up the riders. The weird medieval horsemen continued to talk and whisper among themselves, and occasionally, one of them would look back and gaze at them, especially at Phi or at Alex's hair, which seemed to mystify them for some reason or another, but most likely because he had recently bleached it and it stood out quite abnormally.  
  
The forest began to thin out as they continued to walk down the dirt path, and the trees finally stopped altogether and the road became paved. Alex gasped and stopped dead in his tracks. Tom and Phi snapped out of their trances and their jaws dropped. The riders turned and looked back at them, and one of them chuckled. Tortall's capital city sometimes had that affect on foreigners. Before the teens was an entire middle aged city, sprawled out over a seemingly endless fertile plain, complete with a large stonewall and a very impressive castle. Alex turned to Tom, "Dude, I think you were right about the whole we-got-transported-into-the-middle-ages thing..."  
  
Phi jumped onto a tree stump to get a better view, "...cool... ". Tom just starred. You could practically hear the gears whirring away in his head, his brown eyes sparkling in that odd way again.  
  
The riders shook their heads and continued to walk forward, prodding the three along with the tips of their spears.  
  
As they walked towards the city, Phi realized how small it actually was in comparison to L.A. or San Francisco. When they reached the gates of the city, the horsemen called out to someone on the other side of the gate. Suddenly, they heard the creaking of heavy wood and the moan of rusty hinges and the huge double doors were laboriously opened.  
  
The riders paraded over the threshold of the gigantic gate and into the city, herding Phi, Tom, and Alex along with them. Alex picked up his pace to get the sharp piece of metal out of his back, and with his hands in his pockets strolled leisurely down the road, taking in the sites like a tourist in an amusement park. Phi looked insulted and the stares from the people along the sides of the streets did not improve her foul mood. Then there was Tom. He glided down the streets as if in a trance, oblivious to practically everything around him, including his sister's obvious discomfort, calculating, observing, and making mental notes in his head about things that the other two didn't even bother to notice.  
  
As the strange group approached the castle, the crowd grew. By the time they reached to inner gate that surrounded the perimeter of the building, it had multiplied and become a curious mob of about one hundred people. They wanted to know who these strange people were and where were they from. Why did they dress so strangely?  
  
The riders dismounted and four younger boys appeared out of nowhere and took their horses. The riders lead the teens through huge rooms decorated in the Middle Age English style, complete with tapestries and paintings of serious looking people in stuffy looking clothes, into what looked like a throne room. In it were two empty carved wooden thrones against the middle of a decorated wall, so they assumed it was a sort of throne room anyway... The riders bowed and left the three VERY confused teens alone in the large room. Suddenly, a voice from the outer halls cried, "NUMAIR!!!"  
  
***Good Lord! Language change!!! NOOOOOOO! ***  
  
Numair was jolted out of his reading, almost falling out of his chair, startled by Alanna's yell. Grumbling, he left his study and strode briskly towards the throne room. But before he could safely get there, Alanna was upon him, "Numair, what did you do this time?"  
  
Numair looked alarmed, "What?!? I did something?"  
  
"Your idiotic spell worked!"  
  
"Really!?!", he had been working on that for months now, transportation through dimensions. Unfortunately, when he had tried it, it had supposedly failed...but now...  
  
"Yes really, and there are three children here to prove it!" The Lioness was now a slight shade of pink.  
  
"Three children? Hmm... it wasn't supposed to work that way...". Numair peeked into the throne room and saw the three standing there, looking very confused and worried. "Goddess, they are really different..."  
  
He turned around and found not only Alanna, but also now King Jonathan and Lord Raoul starring intently at him. He lurched backwards and tried to regain his composure. Each of their glares alone could be unnerving, but all three of them together...not good... Numair gulped, "...Yes?..."  
  
Jonathan just looked at him, "Do you realize what you have done?"  
  
Numair replied nervously, "It wasn't supposed to work like this..."  
  
Jonathan shook his head forgivingly, "I should hope not..."  
  
Lord Raoul stepped up to the mage, "Let's get to the point Numair. Can you send them back?"  
  
Numair looked at the hem of his black robe, "Well...yes, technically..." Alanna's eyebrows rose in suspicion, and Numair sighed, "I'll start working on it right away... it may take a while though..."  
  
Lord Raoul peered into the throne room and said, "and in the meantime we should try to make them as welcome as possible"  
  
The king sighed, "It would be so much easier if the spoke our language, or even the language of the Scanrans, so we could understand each other..."  
  
Numair perked up, "I can do that! I have a spell that allows the user to be able to speak a certain language, practically fluently!" Numair walked briskly into the throne room with Jonathan, Alanna, and Raoul following.  
  
The three children jumped when they entered the room, one of the boys jumping in front of the girl. As Alanna looked the three over, she realized that these boys were actually young men, about the age when most squires become knights.  
  
Raoul inspected the children quickly. Their clothing was strange, their hair was strange (especially one of the boys...), and they looked strange. They carried themselves differently, and the seemed to be taller and leaner than most Tortallians.  
  
The taller of the two boys stepped forward and asked them a question in an odd language. Not getting an answer he turned to the other two, speaking quickly and softly. Numair approached him, and as he did, he saw noticed something that he didn't expect to see. The young man's brown eyes were filled with intelligence, and he seemed to know exactly what was going on.  
  
OK, hope you enjoyed it...Yay! I'm so happy! They finally met some real characters! 


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks everyone for being so patient... I've been having computer trouble lately, so I haven't been able to update...but I'm updating now so everything's OK right? * sigh * Oh well...here goes nothing...  
  
Numair stepped towards the young man, his hands out, as a sign of peace. "I need to put a spell on you, it is imperative that we understand each other because you'll be staying here for...a while." The young man's eyes narrowed for a second, as if he was thinking. Then he turned towards his companions. He spoke to them for a second. Alanna noticed that the young woman's eyes narrowed at whatever it is the other said. The other one, the boy with the oddly colored hair, cocked his head like a puppy, looking at all four of the Tortallians, confused.  
  
The boy turned back to Numair, and to Rauol's amusement seemed to steel himself. Numair rubbed both hands together and then placed them on the young man's chest. A black light was emitted from beneath his hands. The young man's eyes widened in surprise, right before he was blasted backwards several feet. With a cry the girl started towards the boy, but then turned and lunged at Numair, her eyes blazing. The young man standing beside her grabbed her, talking urgently to her. Alanna drew her sword, but the girl seemed to have calmed down enough. Raoul sort of chuckled. The girl was tough.  
  
The young man that had been blasted shook his head and stood up, looking for all the world as if nothing had happened. Numair sighed inwardly, 'at least he didn't scream... I wasn't sure if it would work or not... must read up on these spells more often....' The young man calmly walked up to Numair, but not before giving the girl a squeeze on the shoulder as he passed her.  
  
***view change***  
  
Tom stepped up to the robed man. The guy rubbed his hands together and placed them on Tom's chest. Alex glanced at Phi, whose eyes were narrowed and she was poised for action. When he saw her eyes widen he looked over at Tom. He felt his own eyes enlarge as a black light came from under the man's hands. Suddenly, Tom was thrown back, like he was just shot from a cannon. Phi yelled and sprang forward. She began running towards Tom, then got a strange, slightly homicidal look in her eyes and leapt at the weird psychopaths. Alex quickly grabbed Phi and pulled her close so she was unable to commit a murder before she even knew whom she was killing.  
  
The woman with the creepy purple eyes took out a lethal looking blade and got into a defensive stance. Still holding onto to Phi, Alex said, "Phi, breathe; you don't even know what these lunatics are capable of. I mean, they just blasted Tom ten feet for crying out loud!" Phi struggled against him for a second, then settled down. Alex sighed with relief and let go of her only after he was sure that she wouldn't hurt anyone...including him.  
  
Tom shook his head and stood up, slight agitation in his eyes. He strode past Phi and Alex, giving his sister a small squeeze on her shoulder for reassurance, and faced the man who had shot him across the room. The man with the blue eyes and the black beard stepped forward and bowed a little, "I am Jonathan of Conte, king of Tortall. I am sorry if my mage startled you. This is Master Numair Salmalin, he just had to do a quick translation spell." At the word "mage" one of Tom's eyebrows rose, and even more so at the word "spell". Jonathan continued, "These are two of my kingdoms finest knights, Lady Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Alau and Lord Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak."  
  
Tom stood there for a second, soaking all of the new information in and trying to make sense of their incredibly long names. Alex and Phi waited for a moment, then Phi lightly kicked Tom in the leg.  
  
* random change of views... * The young man seemed startled then clamed down and said, "Oh... excuse me! I am Thomas, this is Phionia, and my friend Alexander." Phi and Tom perked up when they heard their names, "This...umm... 'spell' of yours...will you be able to send us back to our world?"  
  
Numair hesitated for a moment, "Yes...but it will take some time to prepare and a lot of power to finish. It is one thing to accidentally transport someone, but to purposely do it is a whole other matter all together."  
  
The girl named Phionia tapped Thomas lightly on his shoulder and whispered something into his ear. Thomas nodded and turned towards Numair, "Phi and Alex want to know if you can let them... understand your language too."  
  
Numair looked surprised, "Of course!" He stepped up to the two and put one hand on each of their chests. He thought to himself, 'Now that I have a little more practice, this shouldn't impact them as much as it did the boy... '. Alex looked nervous and said something urgent to Thomas, who replied something gently. Alanna went up to Thomas and asked, "What did he ask?"  
  
Thomas looked at the Lioness, and said frankly, "He wanted to know if it would hurt, and I told him yes, but that it wouldn't be as painful as coming here in the first place was."  
  
Numair hands glowed black again, and suddenly Phionia and Alex were launched back about two feet. Thomas jogged over and pulled Phionia up, then went over to Alexander and helped him up. The boy moaned as he stood up, rubbing his head, "I feel like I got hit in the head with a baseball bat..." he paused and perked up, "Hey! I'm speaking a language I never knew I knew!"  
  
Phionia brushed herself off and muttered to herself, "That was annoying..."  
  
Tom laughed at the girl remark politely and said, "For once Phi is complaining more than you, Alex!" Alex grinned at Thomas appreciatively.  
  
'Phi...Alex...', Raoul's mouth twitched as he thought of their nicknames.  
  
Thomas spoke to his companions, "I would like you to meet King Jonathan, Lord Raoul, Lady Alanna, and Master Numair Salmalin. It seems that Numair is a mage and is the one responsible for brining us here, the reason being that he had an accident while experimenting with one of his spells. He will be able to send us back to our world...but it will take a while."  
  
Alex curiously asked, "So um, what are we going to do here in Camelot in the meantime. I mean, hanging out is cool with me, but it might get kinda boring..."  
  
Jonathan nodded in agreement. Even with the translation spell that Numair had cast, they still seemed to be using some of their old vocabulary. "I think that it would be best, in all of our interests that we find something for you to do. The new pages and squires will be arriving soon. Before they come we might want to introduce you to our world... it would mean that there would be less explaining to do..." He turned towards Numair with a slight smile, "Since you brought them here you can give them a tour..."  
  
"Me?!?" Numair sputtered, "but...but there would be so much to cover, so much explaining, it would take weeks for one person to explain a whole world!"  
  
Jon sighed, "Not the entire world Numair...just the palace, maybe the city. If we are lucky, they can go back to their world soon so they won't need to get used to ours...if we aren't able to send them back, then you can educate our guests about the entire world."  
  
Numair looked relieved, "Oh, that's good news..." he looked towards the three teenagers, "All right, we have better get started. We have a lot of ground to cover..."  
  
Numair walked out of the room followed by Alex, Phi, and Tom who were excited about getting to explore a new world, kind of like the feeling you get when you visit a theme park for the first time. When they were out of the room, Jon sighed and flopped down into one of the thrones, his head in his hands. Raoul turned to Alanna, "So... do you think Numair can get them back?"  
  
The Lioness looked at the door, then back at the king, "Let's hope so...otherwise we could have a very bad situation on our hands..."  
  
Numair walked down the hall, "Okay, now where to start?"  
  
He passed the great hall, and was sauntering by some large tapestries when he heard a "Whoa!" from the boy named Alex. He stopped, "Yes?" He turned and saw that they were all staring at the pictures. "Well I suppose this is a good spot..." Numair cleared his throat, "All right...these are some portraits of our past and present kings and queens."  
  
Phi was breath taken, "Wow, they're beautiful!" Numair looked closer at the paintings. He had never really paid any attention to them before, but now that they pointed it out, they were very well done. It was almost as if they could come alive. But, he had work to do and he really didn't want to be stuck here all day. He began to walk further down the hall and, sure enough, they followed.  
  
"We just passed the great hall. That is where the pages, squires, and visiting knights eat their meals. We are now going through the dormitories. The pages are down that hall,"he pointed down to the left, "the squires sleep down that way," he pointed to the right, "and the knights and our visitors, such as yourselves, sleep on the next floor up. The servants sleep next to the kitchen area, which is past the great hall." He walked quickly and the three had to jog to keep up with him, and they certainly did not want to get lost in this labyrinth of a palace.  
  
He led them up a huge flight of stairs, "Up here is the main library and the mage's studies. The classrooms are also on this floor and when the pages and squires come back, this is the busiest place in the entire palace." Numair walked back down the stairs and out of the main building, towards a large opened field with a large single story building on the edge of the grass.  
  
Tom looked at it, "Is that a stable?"  
  
Numair looked surprised, "Why, yes it is. This is the cities largest stable and where most of the pages, squires, and knights keep their horses."  
  
Phi wanted to go seethe horses, but Numair insisted on going to a place that sounded like an armory. When they reached the other building, Phi was so glad that she hadn't stayed with the horses. This was the coolest place! It was filled wall to wall with weapons like spears, bows and arrows, swords, weird sharp things, and those sticks that the knights on TV used to joust with...oh ya...lances...  
  
Alex looked at the sharp pointy things, then at the scary, happy look on Phi's face, "Umm... can we go now? Phi has that weird look in her eyes that says I'm gonna-accidently-put-a-hole-in-you-with-one-of-these..."  
  
Numair glanced at Phi, "Yes, well I suppose I should lead you to your rooms now..."  
  
Tom looked at his friend and his sister, "I think that would be best, we have a lot to think about and soak in, besides, you probably have work you would like to do." He said this last part with a slight smile on his face.  
  
Numair blushed slightly, embarrassed at the thought that he might have already insulted them, "Was it that obvious?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Right then, your rooms are right over there," Numair walked to two doors as he talked, "If you need anything, you can just ask a servant you see in the hallway or wait until they come and get you for supper, which will be at six. If anything happens that causes you to need any sort of medical attention, the infirmary is near the libraries." He reached the doors and said, "The one on the left can be your room," he motioned towards Phi, "and you two can stay in this room. I'll have one of the servants set up an extra bed."  
  
Tom took Numair's hand and shook it, "Thank you Numair, see you at dinner!" And with that, all three went into the boys' room and shut the door. Numair looked down at his hand, "What was that for?" He shrugged and walked back towards his study to get started on finding a way to get the newcomers back to their world.  
  
** Change of views, kinda thing...**  
  
In their new room, Phi fell onto the bed, exhausted, face down. Alex looked down at her and sat down on the window seat. Tom flopped down next to his sister, and once again, began to stare into space. Alex looked out of the window down into the large empty field that was next to the stables, "You seem to be zoning out today Tom. More then usual anyway..."  
  
When Tom didn't respond, Phi mumbled something into the pillow and the kicked him, hitting his leg. He snapped out of his weird behavior and looked around, "Huh? What?"  
  
Alex looked back at his best friend and sighed. There was no one he'd rather get sent into another dimension with, but sometimes... "What are we going to do?"  
  
Tom looked at him, "I don't know... go along with their plans for now. It sounds like they have a way to get us back..."  
  
YES! I finish typing! I'M SO HAPPY! (* sob *) I hate typing... Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed it and I made it extra long for all those days I have missed...sorry about that...I hope you are still interested in my story... 


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Good news for all of you! I am now going to stop procrastinating and type up more of the story! I hope some people are still reading this because I don't want to be typing up all of this for nothing!  
  
At Six o' clock, or what they thought was six, someone knocked on their door. Phi and Alex were asleep, and after a few minutes of persistent knocking, Tom decided that he should probably open the door before someone broke it down. He stood up and stretched, and walked sleepily over to it and cracked it open. A woman was on the other side, "Sirs, supper is being served if you wish to come down..." At the word supper, Alex lurched and woke up. The woman looked around curiously, "Do you need help finding the Hall?"  
  
Tom thought carefully, making sure that he remembered where the hall was before answering, "No...I think we can find our own way." The woman bowed and left, and tom turned to his friends. "Alex, help me wake up Phi."  
  
Tom walked over to his sister and shook her gently, "Phi, wake up, it's time for dinner." She moaned and rolled onto her stomach. Alex walked over quietly and gently got right up next to Phi. Then, before Tom could stop him or warn him about how cranky Phi was when she is woken up, with a quick push he shoved her off of the bed.  
  
Phi squeaked and landed on all fours, then glared at Alex, who was laughing on top of the bed. Tom stepped back, not wanting to get in the way. Alex slowly stopped laughing and looked down at Phi, "Sorry, but I am really hungry because I haven't eaten since last night."  
  
Phi looked at him reproachfully, "You are SO lucky that I am feeling forgiving right now." Alex snorted doubtfully and helped her up.  
  
"Anyway, now that you are awake, let's go!"  
Tom was the first out of the door, really glad that Phi hadn't hurt Alex and kind of surprised that she didn't. They walked quickly down the large staircase, starving for food and the chance to get to know more about this weird world that they had ended up in.  
  
Alex was, of course, the first one to the large double door opening of the hall and peeked into the room cautiously, "What kind of food do you think they have here?"  
  
Tom quickly answered jokingly, "I don't know, but if I were you, I wouldn't ask until I had fully digested it first..."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?!?"  
  
"Nothing... I was just thinking back to our own middle-age cultures and remembering what they ate..."  
  
"What did they eat?!?"  
  
"You don't want to know..."  
  
Alex thought on it for a while, "What do you mean I don't want to....Ewww! Oh man! I think I just lost my appetite! Don't ever do that again!"  
  
Just then Phi caught up with them, "Do what?"  
  
Alex looked back at her, "I'm not telling you! You'll probably twist it into an evil plot and use it against me somehow!" Phi smiled wolfishly, and Alex turned back to Tom, "I don't know why you keep her around... Anyway, back to the matter at hand... Should we just go in and start eating or what?"  
  
Tom peeked into the room, "Ya, probably...I see some other people in there already eating, so I think that's the best thing for us to do." They walked into the large room and Phi noted that there were only about thirty people there, and almost every one of them turned and stared at the three as they walked in.  
  
Alex leaned over to Tom, "I think we should have changed our clothes before we came down."  
  
"Yep."  
  
They walked over to a line of people who seemed to be getting their food, a little like a school cafeteria, except a lot nicer. Alex loaded up his plate with what looked like some kind of meat, maybe beef, mashed potatoes, and some mixed vegetables, and sat down at one of the long tables, making sure to keep some distance to the other people. When Phi and Tom joined him, the rest of the people in the room turned back to their companions and began to whisper excitedly among each other, making the three teens feel very out of place.  
  
After about five minutes, the king walked into the hall. Everyone stood up, as if he were a judge in a courtroom, and sat back down again after the king waved his hand. "Good afternoon to you all. I wish to inform everyone about a slight situation that has arose today. Master Numair has accidentally...transported three young people to our own dimension. I hope that all of you will treat our guests with courtesy and politeness, just as you would any other, and that you help them if they are in need of assistance." When Jon finished his speech and left the room, everyone turned to stare at them again, and the whispering started again.  
  
Phi was blushing wildly, "Did he really have to do that..." Tom was about to answer her when she interrupted him, "Never mind... I know what you are going to say. He is just trying to be polite or something..." He nodded and she sighed.  
  
Alex looked at her, "Hey, this food isn't that bad...although it tastes a little strange... kinda dry..."  
  
**half an hour later**  
Phi, Tom, and Alex headed back up the stairs to their rooms. Alex yawned, "I'm wiped...I guess dimension traveling will do that to you..." Phi sighed and walked into her room, "Good night Phi, see you in the morning..."  
  
"'night..."  
  
The boys walked into their room and locked the door behind them. They were asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.  
  
**The next morning**  
  
Alex woke with a start and gazed around, still half asleep. Whoever had woken him up was going to be so dead when he got his hands on them... "Alex! Wake up!" He moaned and rolled over. Not her...not now...it was way to early for this... "Come on Alex! Tom is already in the library!" Good for him... Alex turned over and found himself looking straight up at Phi's impatient face.  
  
He propped himself up on his elbows and glared at her, "First of all, I'm not as insane as your brother and I enjoy my beauty sleep...second of all, how'd you get in here. The door was locked."  
  
She looked at him secretively, "I have my ways...so lets go!"  
  
"Two new problems. First of all, I need to get dressed first, and second of all, where in the heck are we going?"  
  
"I want to go check out the armory!"  
  
The color drained out of Alex's face and he fell back down onto his bed and moaned, "Do we have ta go? I know I'm gonna get hurt or somehow physically harmed..."  
  
Phi pulled him up, "Come on! I promise I won't hurt you!"  
  
"Why am I not comforted..." Phi looked at him intently, "Fine...fine, alright. Just leave me alone for a few minutes so I can get dressed..."  
  
"Fine. But if you go back to sleep, I'll have to hurt you..." She walked out of the room suspicious, and closed the door slowly, as if she didn't trust that he would really get dressed.  
  
Alex muttered and sat back up, rubbing his eyes, "Some day...I'll kill her...wake me up so early...during summer vacation...damn time travel..." He stood up and got dressed, pulling on the weird clothes that the servant type people had left for him. Before he left, he looked at himself in the full-length mirror. He was wearing tan breeches, a white shirt, and a blue vest thing. "I wonder if Tom is wearing his stuff, or Phi for that matter..." He laughed to himself, imagining Phionia in a full- length medieval gown. He looked at himself again and frowned. The vest thing was not working for him. He pulled it off and threw it onto his bed and walked out of the room.  
  
He walked out into the hallway and looked at Phi. Unfortunately, she wasn't wearing a dress, but pants and a shirt, like him. Darn... he would have to find something else to tease her about. "You should be wearing a dress..."  
  
Phi snorted, "Ya, and you should be wearing tights and a little feathered cap." Alex grimaced at the thought.  
  
When they reached the library, they found Tom surrounded by...big surprise...piles of books. At the moment, he was halfway through an extremely thick book called, "History of Tortall Vol. I" He was dressed in the same costume as Alex and Phi, except he was the only one who was actually wearing his blue vest. He looked up quickly when he heard them come in, and then went back to reading, "Alex, you're finally up!"  
  
Alex grimaced and said reproachfully, "Ya, no thanks to your sister..."  
  
Tom frowned and looked back up at Phi, "I told you not to wake him up... that's why I looked our door." Phi smiled innocently and Tom sighed, "Where are you going anyway?"  
  
"We're heading for the armory."  
  
"Sounds like...fun..." Alex snorted, "Anyway, I'm going to stay here...I'm learning a lot about Tortall, this kingdom, from these."  
  
Alex turned to Tom and as he was being lead away by Phi said, "When ya take a break, would you mind writing up a quick will for me?" Tom laughed, "I was serious!"  
  
Phi succeeded in dragging Alex into the hall outside of the library, and out of the main part of the building. They sauntered across the field to the armory. When they got there, there were already three people in it that were practicing with swords. When Phi and Alex walked in, they stopped and looked up at them.  
  
Alex stopped in the doorway and looked at the sword wielding boys and stepped back, "Hey, if you kids are busy we can come back later."  
  
One of them stepped forward. He was about fourteen, had brown hair, and Alex noted that he was shorter than him by half a head, "Are you the new visitors that the king was talking about last night?"  
  
Phi walked towards him, "That we are. Can you show us how to use those things?"  
  
The boy frowned and looked at Phi and Alex specutively, "Have you ever used a weapon like this before?"  
  
"Um...No?"  
  
The boy turned back to his companions, "You guys want to take a break?" They nodded enthusiastically and grinned, "All right! This is going to be interesting..."  
  
One of the other boys handed Phi and Alex a sword and set them up in a beginning fighter's stance and told them to try to swing the sword in a horizontal pattern about chest high. Alex grunted and lifted his sword and swung it, "Gees, this thing is like...thirty pounds! How do you carry this around all the time?"  
  
The boy shrugged, "I don't know, I guess you just get used to it after a while..."  
  
Alex turned to Phi and laughed. She could barely lift her sword into position. She glared at him, "Shut up! I'm a runner not a weight lifter!"  
  
"I didn't say anything...yet..."  
  
The boy intervened before any real argument started up, "Now that you've practiced swinging your sword horizontally, lets try swinging it diagonally..." he motioned towards Alex, "You seem to have a nice hold on your weapon, you try first." Alex grunted and sung his sword up and over his left shoulder, then down and back up over his left shoulder. The boy smiled, "Excellent! You're doing extraordinarily well for a beginner." Alex beamed and turned evilly to Phi, "Your turn."  
  
She scowled at him and lifted her sword over her shoulder and swung it down, then lifted it over her other shoulder, once again painfully slow, and swung it back down. The boy frowned, "I think you need to develop your upper body strength more...You might want to talk to one of the Shang fighters if you need a way to fight and defend yourself."  
  
Phi looked insulted, "Wait just a minute... I can defend myself just fine!... What's a Shang fighter?"  
  
"You fight with your hands and your body instead of using a weapon."  
  
"Kinda like a martial art then...right?"  
  
The boy looked confused. "Never mind..."  
  
The boy shook his head and went back to teaching them how to use a sword. They swished it around a few more times, but Phi could never get the blade to go over her head. One hour later, Phi stopped swinging and fell exhausted onto the ground, "Do people's muscles usually feel like jelly?"  
  
Alex walked over to her and pulled her up, "No. You're just a wimp," Phi kicked him lightly in the shin, "You aren't being very nice!"  
  
"Neither are you."  
  
Alex frowned and turned to the boys, "Thanks a lot for showing us how to use the swords."  
  
The brown haired boy stepped forward again and, to Phi and Alex's surprise, bowed, "It was no trouble at all. May we ask you a question before you leave?"  
  
Alex looked surprised, "Sure! Go ahead!"  
  
The boy asked hesitantly, "The king said that you weren't from Tortall...where are you really from?"  
  
Alex thought for a moment, trying to figure out what to tell the kid, then grinned, "We come from a place called the United States of America."  
  
The boys looked at each other confused, and thought, 'That is a weird name...' Alex and Phi walked out of the armory, grinning happily. Thus whole being in another dimension thing might be fun after all... 


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: I'm actually trying to update quickly today! Yay for me! I'm so proud of myself! Thank you those of you that have reviewed! I'm happy to see that I am converting new participants to the Dark Side of the force...  
  
Phi was bored. It was the afternoon after her first weapons lesson and she was really bored. You might say that she has a short attention span or you could say that any teen would be this bored after almost six continuous hours of pure nothing... She had already raided the kitchen to look for something to eat because the breakfast they served wasn't nearly large enough, as you know she had been humiliated in the armory, and had just finished exploring the palace.  
  
Just then, Alex came sprinting around the corner of the hallway, "Phi! You have got to come and see this! There are a bunch of knights, in full suits of armor and everything!" They had been talking about what they wanted to see the most and they had both agreed that seeing some knights would be awesome. She sprinted after Alex.  
  
She ran past him and when she was turning around a corner, she rammed headfirst into someone and landed flat on her butt. Alex stopped dead in his tracks, "Shit..." This was not going to be pretty.  
  
The red haired knight who had knocked her down, blushing wildly, leaned down and reached out a hand to help Phi up. She looked up at him with her homicidal glare, grabbed his outstretched hand, and flipped him into the air, in a full suit of armor, and threw him into the wall.  
  
The other knights that the red head was with stood there for a second, stunned at what had just happened, then one of them, a man, started to laugh and soon the rest of them had joined in. By this point, Alex had reached the group and quickly helped Phi up, who was now blushing, and then turned to the red head she had thrown and offered him a hand up. The knight accepted it grudgingly and brushed himself off.  
  
One of the other knights stepped forward, and to Phi and Alex's surprise, it was a girl, "Good afternoon visitors! I hope that you are not injured, we should have been watching where we were going."  
  
Phi blush deepened, "I'm fine...sorry about flipping you...its kind of a...reflex I have..."  
  
The red head, who too looked embarrassed, shook his head, "I am alright, although I have to say that I have never been thrown before..."  
  
For a moment no one talked. Both of the groups were examining the other, then Alex who was tired of the uncomfortable silence said, "My name is Alexander, or Alex, and this is Phionia, or Phi. We got...um...transported here, I guess, along with her brother Thomas, or Tom."  
  
The woman smiled and bowed, "It is nice to meet you. I am Keladry of Mindelan, the one you threw is Merric of Hollyrose," she began motioning towards the other people behind her, "This is Nealan of Queenscove, Domitan of Masbolle, Esmond of Nicoline, and Owen of Jesslaw. You must be the young people that Numair had brought back from another dimension."  
  
Alex, who was still trying to sort through their names replied, "That's what we hear anyway..."  
  
Just then Tom, who was taking a break in the library and had heard the crash of metal walked over, "There you are! I knew that you two were the ones that were causing all the noise!"  
  
The knights looked at him and Keladry said, "Good afternoon to you. You must be Thomas."  
  
Tom looked surprised then realized that Alex and Phi must have already introduced him, "Yes I am. I hope that Alex and Phi aren't bothering you guys too much."  
  
"No, actually though, we must get going...it was nice to meet you three." The group of knights walked quickly through the halls, whispering to each other probably about the three, and turned into the throne room.  
  
**View change!**  
  
As they left the three strange visitors, Kel turned to Neal, "Did they seem a little odd to you?"  
  
"Well they are from another dimension..."  
  
Kel thought about it for another minute then shrugged it off, her thoughts returning back to the matter at hand. She had just gotten back to the castle with Tobe and Neal when a messenger came from behind them, and asked them to deliver a message to the king. She had agreed, half because she thought it was her duty to do so, and half because she was curious to see what kind of message was so urgent that she would even have to do such a thing in the first place.  
  
Once she heard the news, she was glad that she had accepted her job. The messenger told her that although the Scanran's military force had nearly been destroyed, a small band of warriors was advancing towards Conte seeking revenge. She needed to warn his highness so that he could prepare some troops to send out to defend the neighboring countryside and the city itself.  
  
When she was stabling her horse, she had run into Merric, Dom, Owen, and Esmond, and when she told them what she had to do, they volunteered to come with her. The job didn't really take this many people, but it was fun to get the old group back together so she didn't complain.  
  
She walked into the throne room and found King Jonathan talking to her old knight-master, Lord Raoul. She let a small grin slip when she saw him, but then again who wouldn't? He and the King's Own had stopped by for a quick rest, and she was glad to see him again.  
  
The king stopped talking to Raoul and turned to Kel, who bowed, "It is nice to see you again Lady Keladry. Is there something you wish to talk to me about?" She nodded and quickly filled his highness in on the arising situation, with help from Neal, who had heard the original message as well. The king's blue eyes darkened and Raoul looked surprised.  
  
When Kel finished, Raoul turned to Jon, "Do you think that they would really be stupid enough to try a direct attack on Conte?"  
  
Jon looked thoughtful and replied, "I don't know...With the new group of pages and squires arriving tomorrow afternoon, it might be difficult to prepare enough defense..."  
  
Raoul stood up, "Well, it is a good thing we dropped by then!" He turned to Dom, "Tell the Own to prepare for battle! And I thought that this trip would be boring! Ha! First Numair brings some people in from another dimension, and now this! Things just get better and better!"  
  
Dom laughed at his superior's vigor and ran off to alert the Own. Kel turned to Raoul, "About the people that Numair brought back...what are they like?" When Raoul looked at her speculatively she stammered, "We ran into them into the halls..."  
  
Neal interrupted, "Literally..."  
  
Kel glared at him and continued, "And they seemed somehow different then us."  
  
Just then, Alanna who had been eavesdropping on their conversation from the halls walked in, "So you noticed it to?" Kel nodded, "So did I. They seem to be taller than average, and they carry themselves differently...not like a warrior, but not like a scholar or a peasant either. Then, of course, they also look different, especially that one boy who had blonde AND brown hair..."  
  
By this point, Merric and Owen were completely lost, neither of them having sensed anything peculiar about the newcomers, and it was now Lord Raoul's turn to interrupt, "They also dressed strangely! You should have seen what they were wearing what they first got here!"  
  
King Jon finished the conversation, "But the most important thing for all of you to remember is that they are our guests, they did not arrive her on their own free will, and it is part of all of our duties to make sure that they are as comfortable as possible." The group nodded, and turned to leave, "Thank you Lady Knight for letting me know about the Scanrans." Kel bowed again and followed her friends out of the room.  
  
I know it is a little shorter than usual, but I am also typing faster, and for that you should be thankful...or not...whatever! I don't care! Just please review and let me know about anything that you would like to see happen or if you want the three to meet a particular character. (I'm not into major plot or character changes by the way, so if you ask me to do something completely off the wall...it probably won't happen, but I would love another person's original ideas!)And review! Please REVIEW! 


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: All right! Time for another chapter! Before I start I just wanted to thank everyone whose reading, and double thank those who are reviewing. Anyways, now that that is over with...back to the story!  
  
Phi and Alex walked back into the library to see how Tom was doing, and found him half buried in a mountain of large books. Phi went up to him and picked one of the books up, "Your planning on reading all of this?"  
  
He looked at her then at the book, "No. I already read that stack..."  
  
Alex looked at him, "You really gotta take a break...Why don't you come down to the armory with us? Or lets go get something to eat, or explore the city."  
  
Tom smiled, "I am kinda hungry...oh! I almost forgot! Numair wanted us to go down to his study this afternoon. He had a few questions to ask us about where we come from."  
  
Phi pulled her brother up, "Well until then, lets go do something fun!"  
  
It took both Phi and Alex to pull Tom out of the pile of books, and when they finally got him free, they began walking down the stairs to the stable area. Phi asked Tom, "So what do you want to do?"  
  
"Lets go into town! It'll be interesting to explore a medieval city...but first I want to get something to eat...I'm starving!"  
  
They walked into the Dining Hall and grabbed some food. Then they sat down in what was becoming their usual spot, otherwise known as "as far away from everyone else as possible". When they were eating, Alex said, "So...where in the city do you want to go? It seems like a big place...well relatively big anyway...we should probably have some idea where we are going so we don't get hopelessly lost...like usual..."  
  
Tom thought about it, "Hmm...It's to bad they don't have a tourist booth are an information kiosk or something..." Phi snorted. "What?"  
  
Phi laughed, "Sorry...That just sounded really funny...never mind..."  
  
Tom looked around the room, "We could always ask someone...like them." Just then, the knights that they had run into before walked into the room. Obviously, they weren't they only ones who were hungry.  
  
Alex jumped up, "I'm all over it." He strolled over to the group, who had just sat down, "Hello. My friends and I were wondering if you knew of anywhere we could go to have a little fun." The knights looked at each other.  
  
Nealan piped up, "This is about the most interesting place in the city for travelers...except for the inns and taverns..."  
  
Alex looked blankly at them, "All right..." and he walked back over to Phi and Tom, "They say that this is the most interesting part of the city..." Phi sighed and rested her head in her hand.  
  
"Great...Anyways...what do we want to do now?"  
  
***Slight View Change***  
  
Neal looked back at Kel, "How can they possibly be bored all ready? They've only been here for two days!"  
  
Merric shook his head, "Wow. Either it must be really exciting where they come from, or they have really short attention spans..."  
  
Kel looked thoughtful, "Hey you guys...what do you say to us taking a break and showing the visitors around town? It would be fun, and we would get to know them better..."  
  
Dom looked at Neal, who was looking doubtful about the idea, "What do you say Meathead? Let's go show them a good time?" Neal scowled at Dom for using his accursed nickname and nodded. Kel rubbed her hands together, "OK, Let's go!"  
  
***Back to normal***  
  
The three had just decided to either go to the armory and do something, or go to the stables or do something. "Well this day is getting off to a fun start..." Phi muttered as they were putting their dishes away. They were just leaving the dining hall when Kel came jogging up to them.  
  
She looked at the three, "My friends and I were wondering if you would like us to take you around the city? If you're not to busy that is..." Kel almost laughed as their eyes lit up with excitement.  
  
Tom looked at Alex and Phi's excited faces. "Well, if you're sure we won't be bothering you... sure!"  
  
They walked out of the Dinning Hall and out of the Palace. They were casually talking amongst themselves, Tom getting into a conversation with Neal about healing, and suddenly, Owen stopped and slapped his forehead, "Mithros! I just remembered that Wyldon asked me to pick up some new swords for the new pages!"  
  
Esmond sighed, "Owen! He told you about that a week ago!"  
  
"I know...I just keep forgetting!"  
  
Kel intervened, "It's all right... it is a Market day anyway. We can show them around the market while you pick up the swords."  
  
Tom, Phi, and Alex just stood and watched as the conversation went on. Dom walked over and patted Owen on the back, "Don't worry about it. I need to pick up some stuff for the Own anyway..." Owen smiled gratefully and they changed their direction and soon the cobble stone street became filled with venders and large, swarming crowds of people.  
  
Before they were separated, Kel yelled to the three, "Look around! If you find something you like, tell us. Oh...watch your pockets.... there's some pretty good thieves working the streets!" The three nodded, and they lost sight of her as she was herded away by the masses of people.  
  
Phi walked over to a stall and pulled Alex over, "Look at these!" They were pieces of metal twisted into shapes; some even had jewels in them, the kind of homemade craft that just doesn't exist anymore in our world. Tom wandered over to a stall that was covered in what looked like old scrolls, pictures, and maps. Alex drifted over and joined him, "This place isn't turning out to be so bad..."  
  
"No! Not at all! In fact, did you know that they actually have dragons and centaurs here?"  
  
What? You mean they're really real! That is so awesome! Can we see one?"  
  
"I don't see why not...See?" he pointed to a map, "There's even a depiction of a centaur in this forest."  
  
"That is so cool...I wanna go there!"  
  
Just then, the shopkeeper came up to them, "I wouldn't recommend it. You must be foreigners."  
  
Tom smiled, "You could say that..."  
  
The man looked at him, "I don't know where you folks are from, but around here the centaurs aren't to friendly with the humans. Sure, they fought with us in the war, but we still just don't trust each other."  
  
Esmond came up from behind them, "Hey! There you are! I've already found Phi...Owen's done with his work, so we can ho if you're ready."  
  
Tom and Alex looked at each other, "Sure!" Tom turned to the store owner before he left, "Thanks very much for the information."  
  
The owner smiled, "It wasn't a problem, in fact...here" he handed Tom the map he was looking at, "take it for free."  
  
Tom was surprised, "Wow! Um...Thanks!"  
  
The man smiled and waved as Tom turned around and jogged to catch up with Alex.  
  
He, Alex, and Esmond waded through the thick, massing crowds until they stumbled upon the rest of their friends. Dom yelled over to Kel, "I think it's getting a little crowded!"  
  
Phi, who had managed to reconnect with her brother, turned to Alex, "Ya...No kidding..."  
  
Neal called out, "Maybe we should retreat into the Dancing Dove!"  
  
Kel grinned, "Good idea! All right troops, you heard the commander, Retreat!"  
  
They rushed into a nearby building dragging the three Americans with them, who had no clue where they were going. When they got inside, Neal found a large table and they all sat down. Merric looked over at Tom and saw the map, "What's that?"  
  
"It's a map a vender gave me." He handed it to Merric, who looked it over carefully.  
  
"Hmm...This thing is pretty accurate! Look Kel! It's New Hope!"  
  
"Where? Let me see!" Kel took the map from Merric, "This is a very recent map..." she handed it back to Tom, "It will be a nice souvenir anyway."  
  
Tom grinned and pocketed the map, "Ya...they sure don't make maps like these back home anymore!" Alex laughed and Phi shook her head.  
  
They had been sitting at the table for a few minutes when a large man came over to their table, "I couldn't help overhearing that some of you are not from around here...I'll be happy to show them around." He grinned wolfishly.  
  
Kel looked suspiciously at him, "We're doing a fine jobs ourselves, thank you very much."  
  
The man stepped closer and Neal eyes narrowed and the man said, "That's too bad...but maybe, I'll just have you pay for my services anyway." He drew a dagger and put it to Phi's neck, who had been unfortunately sitting in just the wrong spot, "Now..." Kel, Dom, and Neal sprang their feet, their hands going to their belts. It was then that they realized that they had left their swords at the Palace. Owen, the only one who was actually armed was sitting across the table and wouldn't make it in time to help Phi. Owen looked around the tavern for someone else, but realized that it was deserted. Phi had gone pale and looked at Alex, who was sitting next to her. He looked back at her purposefully, and she nodded slightly. Under the table, Alex tapped Tom, who was white as a sheet, on the leg.  
  
Suddenly, before anyone could stop them, Tom and Alex leapt up, Alex grabbing the man's arm and wrenching the dagger out of it, and then Tom quickly tackled the man from the side. Phi leapt out of her chair and joined the two boys, and together they managed to pin him down, along with giving him several bruises and a cut lip.  
  
Then Owen jumped up and pointed his sword at the man's throat, "Don't move..." The rest of his friends surrounded the man, everyone ready to wrestle him back to the ground if need be while Dom helped Tom, Alex, and Phi to their feet.  
  
Then, in case the man had friends hiding out in any of the many shadowy corners of the tavern, the group backed out to the streets, and only then did Owen put the sword away.  
  
Tom walked over to Phi, concern etched clearly in his face, "Are you OK?"  
  
Phi rubbed her neck, "Ya...I'm fine...Are you alright? I didn't know you could tackle people like that!" He shrugged.  
  
Alex laughed and threw his arm over her shoulder, "I guess we really should be thanking Owen for doing his errands late!" Owen blushed and they all laughed.  
  
Esmond turned to the group, "I think we've all had enough excitement for one day of "relaxation"."  
  
Kel sighed, "Ya...We should probably head back to the Palace..."  
  
When they finally got back, Tom slapped his forehead and turned to his friends, "I completely forgot! We're supposed to meet Numair down in his study!"  
  
Kel looked surprised, "What for?"  
  
"He was going to ask us some questions about where we come from..."  
  
Neal looked intruriged, "May we come along?"  
  
Tom shrugged, "I don't see why not...sure!"  
  
Together, the large group walked to the mage's study, talking about what had happened at the tavern, Dom questioning Phi about her fighting skills and Alex was having a lively conversation with Merric about something or another. When they got there, Tom knocked politely on his door. To his surprise, a young woman answered, "Yes?"  
  
Tom quickly regained his composure, "We're here to see Numair...Is he in?"  
  
The woman smiled, "Yes, he's here. You must be Thomas, Phionia, and Alexander! It's good to meet you! I see you've brought an audience."  
  
Kel grinned, "I hope we won't be a bother Daine."  
  
"Not at all, come in. Numair is right down this way." She lead them down a small flight of stairs to a large room filled with two tables covered in what looked like junk, and a large mirror thingy on one wall. Numair, who was seated at one of the tables looked up in surprise as they came in, "Oh! You're here! Good. We can begin then. Hello Kel, Neal, Dom, Merric, Esmond, and Owen, make yourselves at home, if you can find a place to sit! I'm surprised Tobe isn't down here too!"  
  
Kel laughed, "I told him to take the day off...he got bored of being cooped up in the Palace all day."  
  
Numair nodded understandingly before turning to Tom, Phi and Alex, "All right! What I'm trying to do is get a better lock on your time and place so I can send you back to your home instead of to another century in your dimension or such. What I need you to do for me is think about a certain location in your dimension with extremely good detail. Your thoughts will be...transferred, in a way, to this mirror, which will make it easier for me to work with."  
  
Tom looked puzzled, but turned to his friends, "I guess we need to pick one place, and then all together think about it...What should we think about?"  
  
Alex thought for a moment, "How about San Francisco? It is a nice large city, and we all know it well enough to think about it in detail..."  
  
Phi looked at her brother, "I can do that...What do you think?"  
  
"It sounds good to me." He turned back to Numair, "OK, we got our place...Now what do we do?"  
  
"All you have to do is think about it when I tell you to start..."  
  
"OK."  
  
(Author's Note: Ok...now before I start, I have to warn you that I am very tired right now, so my description may not be that good...or even sound anything like San Francisco...Oh well...) More of that black stuff flowed from Numair's hand and it connected to the mirror, and then to the three themselves, "All right...Now!" Suddenly, in the mirror, the milky white film that had covered it before dissolved, and a picture of rolling green hills replaced it. The three heard someone gasp a little from behind them, and a large bank of fog rolled into view as the mirror's image soared over the landscape. Then, their thoughts broke through the fog, and there in the mirror was the Golden Gate bridge, spanning a distance that was probably impossible to cross in the middle ages, and so none of them were surprised when they heard a large round of more audible gasps from behind them. Alex grinned and pushed their thoughts forward, so that the picture soared across the bay and gave a full-on view of one of the most beautiful cities in California. Phi imagined the buildings with crystal-clear detail, from the Exploritorium, to the windows on the tallest skyscraper. Tom added the sea-gulls and the city sounds while Alex, who was having way to much fun amazing the group behind them, imagined a large, commercial jet flying over the city and about a hundred tiny sailboats that dotted the water.  
  
They heard Kel whisper, "Wow...It's so beautiful..." and just for the heck of it, Alex's thoughts dived down into the streets of the city, dragging Phi's and Tom's with them, and together they recreated the busy sidewalks, the impossibly hilly roads, and the cars, buses, and trolleys that zoomed past.  
  
Numair looked at the three, "That should be enough..." Alex sighed with disappointment, and slowly the milky white color overtook the view of San Francisco, and Numair's magic disappeared into the air. 


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: ARRGGHH! I am SO sorry I haven't written recently! I have been absolutely SWAMPED with homework and haven't found the time to type...but now I found it! Actually...there is some homework I SHOULD be doing right now...but this is more important, right? ...*ahem*... Oh ya...I'm a little more awake than I was last time, so hopefully this chapter should be a little better...  
  
After the teens went upstairs, Numair looked around at his friends. They were all deep in thought, contemplating of what they had just seen. "Well..." he said, "that was...intriguing..."  
  
Kel sighed, "No wonder they were bored by our world. Living in one like that could never get old."  
  
Neal leaned back in his chair, "True. But it seemed so crowded and busy, I'm not sure if I would want to live there..."  
  
"Yes, I guess so..."  
  
Daine looked at everyone, "I've noticed that they are a little bored here. Maybe we should give them something to do?"  
  
Numair sat up, "That's a brilliant idea Daine! I've had my eye on Tom as a scholar. I think that he would enjoy it..."  
  
Kel smiled, "Yes, he does seem the type, doesn't he. Alex and Phi have been seen around the armory a lot, maybe they would like to train with the pages..."  
  
Dom thought about it for a moment, then stood up, "Well, no matter what you decide to do, I need to get back with the Own. Raoul will kill me if I'm late, especially now that we need to go check on those Scanrans."  
  
Kel nodded and Dom sauntered out of the room, "See you later..."  
  
Esmond stood up and stretched, "Maybe in the morning we could send Alex and Phi down to train with the pages, and Tom can come down here and help you out Numair."  
  
The mage smiled, "That sounds like a wonderful idea...well then it's settled..."  
  
With that, Kel, Neal, Merric, Owen, and Esmond walked out of the study and up to their rooms. Kel turned to her friends, "See you all in the morning, I have to check up with Toby, and I probably won't be down for supper." They waved her good-bye and then went to their own rooms.  
  
***in the morning***  
  
A really loud bell rang.  
  
Alex woke with a start, and lurched to a sitting position, then fell off the bed, "What the...?"  
  
Tom woke up from the loud "thud" noise Alex had made when he hit the floor, and looked sleepily at his friend on the ground, "...Um.... what are you doing on the floor?"  
  
Suddenly, they heard the bell again, and Alex looked at Tom while trying to untangle himself from his sheets, "That sounded like a school bell...Oh no! My nightmares have come true! We're at *gasp* Summer School!"  
  
Tom gave him that what-the-heck-are-you-talking-about-look, "It's probably just for the pages, so they know when to get up and stuff..."  
  
Alex looked, embarrassed, up at Tom, "...Oh ya...I forgot about them..."  
  
Someone knocked on the door, "I'll get it!" cried Alex as he finally finished untangling himself. He jumped up, walked over to the door, and slowly creaked it open, "Halo?"  
  
It was Kel, and another kid he had never seen before, "Good morning Alex...I was wondering if you and Phi would like to train with the pages this morning?"  
  
He looked at her suspiciously, "Have any casualties occurred from this 'training'?  
  
"Nooooo...."  
  
He thought about it, "What would Tom do?"  
  
"Numair said that he could use some assistance in his study."  
  
Tom leapt up out of his bed, "I'm there!"  
  
Alex sighed, and turned back to Kel, "OK...where and when do we need to go?"  
  
Kel smiled at him, "The armory. 15 minutes."  
  
Alex turned from the door, "15 minutes, that's not so bad...wait. 15 minutes?" Kel nodded. Alex ran back into the room and grabbed his clothes, "Allright!Thankyou!Goodbye!" and with that he closed the door and yanked on his clothes.  
  
"Maybe you should slow down a bit..."Tom advised as he watched his friend trying to shove his foot into his shoe.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Tom smirked, "You're shirt's on backwards."  
  
"GAH!" Alex ripped off his shirt and put it on correctly. "Sorry, I just can't wait! It's going to be SO cool!"  
  
"Ya, getting bruised and learning to kill people, sure seems fun to me..." Tom muttered as he slipped into his own shirt.  
  
"You always gotta look at the dark side of things don't you?"  
  
Tom laughed, "Only in the mornings!"  
  
Alex made sure Tom was dressed and then nearly flew out the door. Tom yelled to him, "Have fun!". From around the corner he heard a "You too!". Chuckling to himself, Tom made his way to Numair's study.  
  
*** After a brief turn around, Alex found his way to the stable area thing only to find twenty little 12 year olds looking up at him. He turned and saw Phi resting against a wall, deep in thought...or it looked that way anyways. He walked over to her, trying to ignore all the starring little kids, "Um...do you feel...slightly out of place?"  
  
She looked at him and said sarcastically, "What ever do you mean?"  
  
"I mean that most of them only come up to my chest?"  
  
She nodded slightly, "And that they are all starring at us like we're from Mars? Ya...you could say I noticed..."  
  
Just then a very large (A/N: Ya know, strong large...) man strode over to them and the pages. "Good morning future knights. I am going to be your training master for the next four years, so you might as well get used to me. My name is Lord haMinch, and it's my job to make the next four years of your lives miserable and to teach you discipline, and the other skills that you will require as a knight. The first thing we're going to do is pair up and start learning to defend ourselves. You will be paired with more experienced pages, who will teach you to block."  
  
Phi and Alex looked at each other and shrugged. Lord haMinch came down the line of first years and paired them up with second years. He stopped short when he reached Alex, "Well, seeing that you're a little too tall to be a twelve year old, I'd say that you are the kid that Lady Keledry talked to me about..." then he noticed Phi standing next to him, "There of two of you? Well, we can take care of that. Comas! Eoban! Come and show these two how to block!"  
  
"Yes sir!" Two of the bigger boys came and bowed to Alex and Phi, then getting into position across from them.  
  
Lord haMinch cleared his throat, "All right! Get into starting position!"  
  
Phi quickly placed her feet in the right spot after looking to see how her partner, Eoban, had placed his. It took Alex a little longer but soon, all the first years had their footing correct.  
  
"Okay." said Lord haMinch, "The first thing you will learn to do is defend yourselves. We will begin with the training rods, as I like to call them, and won't be using real swords until you all show me you're ready." With that, he handed out the sticks, moved to one end of the line and called out, "Defense!"  
  
Alex looked at the big stick in his hand, "Hey! This looks like a quarter staff!" His partner hit him on the hand that he was holding the stick with when he wasn't paying attention, "Ouch!! *#@!$*! It hurts like a quarter staff too..." He attempted to block the next blow, but failed miserably as it landed on his leg. Phi was having the same amount of trouble with her own partner.  
  
"Hey kid, aren't you hitting a little fast?" He was moving much faster than everyone else and seemed to hit a lot harder too.  
  
Her partner looked up at her and sneered, "What, is it too hard for you to keep up? Let me show you how things are done it Tortall!" He began to land a blow in every spot she left open, swinging as fast as he could.  
  
Phi scowled, "What the hell do you think you're doing!" He gave no answer except a blow to her gut. "That's it kid! Now you've really pissed me off!" With a sudden burst of energetic rage that she was infamous for, Phi matched the boy's speed and practically doubled it, enabling her to block all of his hits and return them with a vengeance.  
  
Before anything really dangerous could happen, Lord haMinch interrupted them, "I think you two are done for today...we're supposed to be defending, not bashing each other's heads off!" Phi stopped, but not before giving the boy a smirk of victory, which was returned will a scowl of painful defeat, and the boy walked over to his friends.  
  
Alex turned to her, "You've really gotta work on your people skills..."  
  
She grinned, "But that would take all the fun outa' life!"  
  
Alex rolled his eyes and turned to Lord haMinch as he said, "Alright...it seems that some of us," he looked reproachfully at Phi and Eoban, "have a little too much energy. Let's go burn it off! I want everyone to jog the wall! Go!  
  
Alex scowled, "What is this? P.E.? I hate running!"  
  
Phi began to jog towards the stairs, "hmm...maybe I should give you a little more motivation..."  
  
"What? Hey!" Phi jogged up to Alex and slammed him into the wall. "Ow! Now yer gonna get it! Come back here! You are so dead when I catch up to you!" Phi took off running up the stairs, quickly making it to the front of the line. Alex was trying desperately to catch up, "If...there...weren't so many...damn stairs...I could run faster..."  
  
Finally he reached the top and with a burst of speed tore after Phi, who squeaked in alarm and picked up her pace. By now they were halfway across the wall, the pages in front picking up their pace to match Phi's. By the time they finished running, everyone was about ready to collapse. Phi leaned against a fence, chuckling in between breaths.  
  
"Not...funny...at all..." puffed Alex as he flopped down on the ground.  
  
One of the second year pages, the one they had talked to at the armory, looked at Phi and smiled. "You're an okay runner! I could hardly keep up with you!"  
  
Phi looked at the little brown haired boy and smiled back, "Thanks. For a kid, you're pretty fast too!"  
  
The boy held out his hand, "My name is Devic."  
  
Phi took Devic's hand, "It's nice to meet you Devic. My name is Phi, and the lump over there is Alex!"  
  
"Still not funny!" 


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Hello all! ...um...thanks for being patient and stuff...I have been really busy lately, no I'm serious! I really have been! and so I just wanted ta say thanks for reading my story, and ...um ...ya...  
  
Tom walked back down to Numair's room and knocked on the door. "Hello? Numair?"  
  
Diane was once again the first one to reach the door, "Oh, Tom! Numair's been waiting for you, come on down!"  
  
As he walked into their room, something brushed against his leg, something scaly. He jumped and looked down, "What's that! It looks like a..."  
  
Diane smiled, "...a dragon? It is..." Tom stared at her then back down at the dragon that was now making funny clicking noises and seemed to be purring. "its name is Kitten, and she likes you." Tom just stared. Numair walked up the stairs from his study. "Is that you Tom? Come on down!"  
  
Tom stared at the dragon for another second before his brain snapped back to reality. "Oh, right...coming!" He walked downstairs and found Numair sitting by the fireplace reading a thick spell book. Numair stood up, "I'm glad to see you decided to come Tom!"  
  
"I wouldn't have missed an opportunity like this!"  
  
Numair smiled, "I hope you will have as much fun as you hope to. I was thinking that we could go over the basics of magic first."  
  
Tom took a seat, looking intently at Numair.  
  
Numair smiled at Tom's excitement, "Right, first you should know that even people without magic, like you, can still use magical items and can have the ability to control them."  
  
"That is so cool!"  
  
"Cool?" Numair raised his eyebrows.  
  
"Oh...sorry... It's a slang word from our dimension... It basically means awesome;."  
  
Numair thought about it, "huh...cool."  
  
Tom grinned and shook his head, "Never mind...so, what do you need help with?"  
  
"Well, I am trying to create a spell to get you back to your home."  
  
"You're trying to create one? ...You mean you've never done this before?"  
  
"...No."  
  
Tom looked at him, "So...what do I have to do?"  
  
"You can start by helping me measure out these ingredients!"  
  
*********  
  
"All right pages! Go get your horses. We're starting our horseback riding."  
  
There was a mad rush towards the stables and Alex and Phi were left in the dust.  
  
"What was that all about?"  
  
Lord haMinch came up to them. "You had better pick up your pace as you're probably going to end up with the old farm horses!"  
  
They looked at each other and started sprinting towards the stables. Unfortunately, when they got there, most of the horses were already taken.  
  
"Shit..." Phi looked around and walked into the building, looking into all the stalls and muttering under her breath. Alex gazed around tiredly, then spotted the boy that he had seen with Kel that morning.  
  
"Hey kid! Are there any almost adequate horses left?"  
  
The boy looked up and looked at them thoughtfully, "Well..." He looked at the horse that he was grooming and then at the one next to it. One was a really big horse. A really big horse. It was orangey-red with a white mane. The other one was smaller with brown coloring and a little white star on its forehead. "You're Kel's friends, right?"  
  
"Um...ya...I guess so."  
  
"Mmm...All right then." He pointed to the big horse, "His name is Peachblossom." He looked at Alex, "You'd better ride 'im. He says he's feeling unusually nice today, but it never hurts to be safe." He pointed at the other one, "Her name is Hoshi. She is a lot calmer than Peachblossom." The large horse snorted and nudged the boy's arm, "Oh ya...Peachblossom wants me to tell you not to use spurs, or else he'll throw you."  
  
Alex walked up to Peachblossom, "Don't worry...As long as you promise not to purposefully hurt me, I won't hurt you."  
  
The horse snorted again and seemed to nod. Phi's eyebrows rose in surprise and she walked over to Hoshi, "Can you help us saddle them, um..."  
  
The boy stiffly bowed, obviously unused to the custom, "Me name's Tobe."  
  
Phi grinned, "It's nice ta meet you."  
  
The boy turned and grabbed two saddles off the wall and began to prepare the horses, "As soon as I finish, you'd better move ta the field. That'll be where jousting practice is."  
  
Phi jumped on Hoshi, "All right...Hurry up Alex!" He was cautiously trying to get on top of Peachblossom, "We're gonna be late!"  
  
"Fine!" Alex hoisted himself onto the saddle and gently urged Peachblossom forward, "Easy there boy...don't hurt me!"  
  
They rode up to the field just in time to hear haMinch's instructions, "You are going to ride up to the dummies and aim your lance at the target. Make sure you hurry though, because if you do not, that sand bag will knock you off your horse." Alex shifted uneasily on Peachblossom's back, the armor that they had slipped on before they went to the stables made him sweat. Of course, they had trouble yet again. None of the armor was large enough for Alex, so Merric, who happened to be watching them train, lent Alex his. He had also managed to get one of Kel's suits for Phi, who had trouble finding some armor that fit her body right.  
  
The first boy went, and ended up on his butt. After five more failures, it was Alex's turn. He sighed and nudged Peachblossom forward. He saw Merric watching him from the fence and felt Phi watching him from behind. HaMinch gave the signal and Alex pushed Peachblossom ahead, really fast.  
  
The horse, who had obviously done this before, was unused to a rookie rider and began to thunder down the path. By the time he reached the dummy, Alex already knew what was going to happen. His lance hit the target, extraordinarily close to the middle, but he had hit it with such force that the sandbag whipped around and nonetheless hit him square in the back, flipping him clear of the horse and into the dirt.  
  
Merric reached him first, followed quickly by haMinch. Merric shook the teenager, who had basically got the air knocked out of him, except it hurt ten times more than it usually did, "Alex! Alex! Are you all right?"  
  
Phi ran up to her friend and looked, concerned, at Merric, "Is he going to be all right?!"  
  
"He seems to be unconscious..."  
  
Phi leaned thoughtfully over Alex and bent down until she was inches away from his ear, "Alex..." he twitched a little, "Alex...you missed the bus..."  
  
He launched himself into a sitting position so quickly that he nearly took out Merric, "Wha?!? Huh! What's going on?...Ow! My back..."  
  
Phi laughed and helped him up, "I never knew you where THAT afraid of missing the school bus!"  
  
"It's not being late for school..." he replied tautly, "It was my mother's wrath!"  
  
Merric shook his head and Phi turned to him, "Don't ask..."  
  
He grinned, "I wasn't about to."  
  
Phi looked at Alex, then at the dummy, which was still spinning slightly, "I don't think I'm gonna try that thing today..."  
  
Alex looked dejectedly at her, "Aw...come on Phi! It's...fun..."  
  
Phi looked at his mud smeared face and armor, "heh heh...I don't think so..." She walked back to the fence, and Merric had to support Alex to get him over there. HaMinch came over to them grinning, "Good first run Alex! You got real close to the target, keep it up!"  
  
"Ya...sure thing haMinch."  
  
***  
  
Tom was astounded by all the research that had to be done for one spell. It took more reading than his analysis report on The Tale of Two Cities. Not that he minded. In fact, he was reading some of the most interesting, illogical material that he had ever come across, and he told Numair so.  
  
Numair laughed, "Magic isn't all about logic and reason as some other subjects are. It's just about...well...magic."  
  
Tom smiled. Numair reminded him of his old eighth grade science teacher, except for the fact that he was trying to concoct a magical spell that would send him, his sister, and his friend back through space and time to their own universe. "Numair, how long will this spell take?"  
  
Numair looked up from his reading, "I'm not sure Tom...I was hoping it would only take a week or two with both of us on the job, but now I'm not sure..."  
  
Tom sat up, "What do you mean?"  
  
"It's just that...well with the Scanrans moving in I might be called to the battlefield. That's what I became a black robe for, to protect the people."  
  
"Are these Scanrans that big of a threat now? I was reading up on your history and they seemed to be little more than barbarians."  
  
Numair smiled sadly at him, "They've come under the rule of one king now, King Maggaur...now they are dangerous. There have been reports of them moving to the Tortallian borders. They may try to attack us, although I don't know why really...thrashed them the last time they came here."  
  
Tom closed his book, "Well I'm sure this time it will be no different."  
  
Daine came down the stairs with Kitten, "Numair, Tom, it's time for dinner, come on!"  
  
Numair stood up, "Gods! Is it that time already?"  
  
The three walked out of the study and to the mess hall to get something to eat.  
  
***  
  
After the lance practice, the pages were told they had wrestling practice, an idea which seemed to excite Phi very much. Merric had to go do something or another, which left Phi to act as Alex's crutch, "You know, you normally don't look this heavy..."  
  
"That's so funny I forgot to laugh...you're just not strong enough!"  
  
"It's a good thing we're doing wrestling next so I can show you just how wrong you are!"  
  
"What? I've seen you fight before...besides street fighting and martial arts are more your thing, aren't they?"  
  
"I'll make do..."  
  
Alex snorted unbelievingly and Phi "accidentally" slipped out from underneath him, and he quickly collapsed onto a bench. "Ow! God! I am SO tired of getting hurt!"  
  
Both of them decided to let the others have fun wrestling first when they saw one of the boys get punched in the stomach. Phi looked over at Alex who was attempting to pry Merric's armor off, "Alex, I think I decided that I may not go through with this. I mean this whole thing..."  
  
Alex finally got his breastplate off, "What 'thing'?"  
  
Phi sighed and sat down next to him, "This whole 'becoming a knight' thing. Well...you know me..."  
  
"Ya I do...you're not to good with going along with the program are you?"  
  
"Nope..." the boy who got punched launched himself onto his opponent and Phi smiled, "Although I might stick around a little bit longer as long as things stay interesting."  
  
Just then, Kel, Neal, and Tobe came into the room, carefully skirting around the edges so they wouldn't distract anyone, nodding towards haMinch. Kel spoke up as Alex turned, surprised, to face her, "Tobe told me that you were going to wrestling practice and based on what we saw yesterday at the tavern, I figured that it would be something worth watching."  
  
Neal peered over at Alex , "Are you all right? Here, let me take a look at you..." he walked over to Alex's bench and sat down on the other side of him.  
  
Phi looked at Neal, "It happened during lance practice. He didn't move fast enough and the sandbag hit him. He landed flat on his back."  
  
Kel grimaced, probably over old memories and said, "Ya, Tobe told me about that too..."  
  
Neal looked up at her, then back at Alex, 'Well you could have told me about it...wait a minute...is this Merric's armor?" Alex nodded as Neal pulled up the back of his shirt, 'Quite a scratch you've got going here, nothing I can't handle though..." he put his hands on Alex's back and suddenly Alex relaxed and sighed happily as something pleasantly cool flowed through his body and the red mark on his back disappeared.  
  
Phi stood up, "Well, now that that's settled, haMinch! Can I go now?"  
  
HaMinch looked at her curiously, "Go right on ahead. Who wants to be her opponent?" several snickers ran through the pages and almost every hand went up.  
  
Phi grinned and casually pulled off her armor which she handed to a surprised Kel along with a 'thanks'. HaMinch looked around and chose (miracle of miracles) the boy that she had gone up against in staff practice. Devic glared at him and looked worriedly at his new friend but didn't say anything.  
  
Phi looked manically fine with the situation and winked knowingly back at Alex, then stepped into the fighting square. HaMinch looked hesitantly at the pair then said, "You both know the rules, no punches, no face hits. All right," he stepped out of the square, "Go."  
  
The boy crouched and circled Phi, looking for a weak spot. She, who had fought in many brawls herself, got into a kind of kickboxing stance, and decided right away that she wasn't going to show any weaknesses to this stuck-up punk.  
  
He launched himself at her, attempting to knock her over, but Phi easily sidestepped his attack, and he stumbled trying to regain his balance. She knocked him to the ground and almost had him pinned when he struck out and launched himself on top of her.  
  
Alex looked at Phi, "Three...two...one..." Phi kicked up and the boy sailed over her head and hit the ground.  
  
He stood up shakily and glared at Phi, who smiled prettily back. He took her by surprise and jumped right in front of her and drew back his fist and aimed it right at her face. Before haMinch could stop the boy, Phi panicked. Right before the boy's fist connected with her jaw, Phi leapt back into a flip, which would have looked a lot cooler if she had not landed on her butt instead of her feet. The boy propelled himself forward and stumbled a little again. Phi somersaulted to his left, ending up behind him, and tackled him from behind the knees. He fell face first onto the mat and Phi wrenched his hands behind his back and pinned him down.  
  
"Phi won!" cried Alex as he jumped up and grabbed her off of the boy before any post-wrestling fights could take place.  
  
Phi turned happily to Alex as all the first year pages looked disbelievingly as the boy peeled himself off of the mat and walked dejectedly back over to his friends, "I told you so...". 


	12. Chapter 12

Readers: sorry this has taken so long...I was just enjoying my spring vacation, and I suppose I forgot my duties towards my Fanfic for a moment...sorry.  
  
Someone pounding on their door startled Alex awake again. He looked over at Tom, and when Alex realized that Tom had no intentions of getting up, he forced himself out of bed, pulled some clothes on, and stumbled sleepily over to the door. He fumbled with the doorknob then slowly opened it. Phi immediately grabbed Alex, yanked him out of his room, and quickly lead him down the hall to the armory, "Come on Alex!"  
  
He yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes with the one hand she wasn't yanking and glared at her, "What's with you anyway?"  
  
She looked back at him strangely, "What do you mean?"  
  
He stared at her, "Yesterday during training you couldn't wait to get out of the program!"  
  
She stopped momentarily, "I dunno...mood swings or something I guess...besides, that was yesterday! Today's a whole new day and if you don't hurry, we'll be late again!"  
  
He sighed as they picked up their pace and rolled his eyes, "Girls..."  
  
Phi tugged on his arm and he almost tripped, and he spent the rest of the way muttering under his breath.  
  
When they reached the armory, Lord haMinch (A/N: if you don't like his name, or you think it is wrong, let me know what you think the right name is and I'll switch it...I'm pretty sure this is right though...) was waiting for them, "Good to see you on time! Today, you and the pages will be working on your classroom studies for a change of pace." Phi's jaw dropped and Alex seemed to pale at the mention of "class". "Now up you go! Don't be late or you'll get more work afterwards!"  
  
Phi tried desperately to get away, but Alex grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and led her up the stairs with the rest of the pages. Alex turned to her and shrugged, "...it can't be all that bad..."  
  
The first classroom they were ushered into was filled with desks, chairs, old maps, and books. The teacher, or who they thought was the teacher, urged them all to sit down. He was a short, plump, balding man with a beard and a certain twinkle in his eye that Alex prayed was kindness.  
  
Phi and Alex rushed to the back to claim their seats, but were surprised to find that most of the pages were sitting up front willingly. Alex turned to Phi with a questioning look on his face, "Do you think kids here really like school?" Phi gave him a sideways glance and he replied, "If so, this place is creepier than I thought!"  
  
As the lesson started, it soon became clear to Alex and Phi that it wasn't that the kids liked school, they just liked the teacher.  
  
He walked up to the front of the room and cleared his throat. The conversations stopped almost immediately and pleased with the class's response, he continued, "Good morning class! Although most of you already seem to know be, I still feel the need to introduce myself." He glanced casually at Phi and Alex who, even though they were in the back row, where a head taller than everyone else and very noticeable, "My name is Sir Myles of Olau, and throughout the year I will be your history and political teacher. As I say every year, I wish for you to have a good time in this class, but the rules of the palace still stand even in this room and I have no patience for foolishness." The pages all nodded silently.  
  
Sir Myles took another glance around the class and continued to speak, "Before the real work begins, I would like to do a round of introductions so I can learn your names faster", a chuckle ran through the class. Obviously Sir Myles wasn't famous for his fantastic memory of his students' names. "So we will begin in the front of the class with you," he pointed at a first year who stated his name and his land or whatever it was, his fief. Devic was next, but after that, Phi completely zoned out and looked instead at the old maps on the wall, which she found tons more interesting.  
  
Finally, it was Alex and Phi's turn to speak. He elbowed her in the stomach and said, "I am Alexander of...um...California," and Phi cut in, "and I am Phiona of..." she looked at Alex strangely, "...California."  
  
Myles looked inquisitive but shook it off and the introductions continued. Phi turned toward Alex, "California? Don't you think that's a pretty big chunk of land for you to own?"  
  
He looked over at her mischievously, "I was going to say the Americans, but I thought that would be a little overboard...besides, your family doesn't have to own California too!"  
  
She stared blankly at him, "Well what was I supposed to say, 'I am Phiona of Oregon?'"  
  
"Hey! You got something against Oregon?"  
  
"What!?! No! It was just the second state that popped into my head, but that's not the point!"  
  
"Rhode Island's smaller than California, you could've said Rhode Island..."  
  
"ARGH!" she turned from him and massaged her temples. He grinned happily and settled back into his chair.  
  
***  
  
Later that morning, Phi came storming out of the manners, or whatever you want to call it, classroom fuming. The nerve of that teacher! If he weren't an authoritive figure she would have killed him! Alex followed her laughing, "That was great! You should have seen your face when Master Oakbridge said all girls are good for is dancing and hosting parties! I swear laser beams shot from your eyes! Man, if looks could kill, that guy would be dead about fifty times over!"  
  
She growled, "I don't want to hear it..."  
  
He came over and but his arm on her shoulder, "And then when one of the first years needed a dance partner for an example, and he picked you because you where the only girl! And you didn't know how to dance the way he did! Ah, that was priceless..."  
  
"Shut up and tell me where we get tortured next..."  
  
He quickly became serious, "Well, make up your mind! I can't shut up and tell you our next class at the same time!"  
  
She swallowed a scream and rounded on Alex, "Just tell me where we go next!!"  
  
"Okay! Sheesh...Calm down, you're creating a scene!" he took out a folded piece of paper that he had scribbled their schedule on while they were in Sir Myles's class, "All right...we go to...um...biology with Lindhall Reed..."  
  
She moaned slightly and together they walked towards the classroom, trying to quiz each other on what they learned in Biology last year, or for Alex, two years ago.  
  
***  
  
As they walked into the new classroom, the two teenagers stared around in wonderment at the odd collection of weird things that were in their new Biology room. The walls were lined with well-kept cages of lizards, snakes, rats, and who knows what else and the room itself smelled a little like a zoo.  
  
Their teacher came and introduced himself and just as the class was getting settled, something flew in from the back room and perched itself on top of Lindhall's desk. The teacher, started and turned to the creature, "Why hello Bonedancer, your not supposed to be out here..."  
  
The class just stared. The thing that he had called Bonedancer was a skeleton...except it was moving. Alex leaned forward in his chair (Phi and Alex had managed to get stuck in the front row) to get a better look and Phi said out loud, "Is that a bird skeleton?"  
  
Lindhall stretched out his arm and Bonedancer hopped on it, like a parrot, "Actually, this is the fossil of a archaeopteryx, a dinosaur bird, and...um...one of my mage colleges brought it back to life...He was supposed to stay in the back room until a later time, but since he's out now, he might as well stay that way..." Bonedancer ruffled his 'wings' and flew over to the corner of the classroom and landed on a perch that seemed to have been put out for that very purpose. Lindhall cleared his throat, "Now then class...I don't teach Biology to first year pages, but the other teachers and I thought that it would be a good idea to let you become aware of what your later years in this program will bring you. Normally during this period, you would go to your mathematics class...so next time you have classes, do not come here, go there."  
  
During the rest of the class, he Lindhall talked to the pages about science and how much it has changed in the recent years. Alex and Phi listened on with interest, because it was amazing how advanced these people were compared to their own world during the middle ages.  
  
Finally, the teacher cleared his throat and the pages quieted down, "For your next class, some of you will be going to learn about the Gift, others of you will be going to study with Tkaa, our resident immortal."  
  
Numair walked in, followed by Tom. Phi waved and he grinned back. The mage walked over to Phi, who was sitting in the seat nearest the door and announced, "I will be filling in for Duke Turomot today and will be testing you for the Gift. Please don't talk and remain still while I am checking you. I promise you won't feel a thing."  
  
He turned to Phi, giving her a friendly smile, and spread out his hands in front of her face. She flinched, remembering what happened last time he did that, but relaxed as she recalled that he had asked her to remain still. A soft glow of black light seemed to seep from his very skin and sink into hers. He frowned and the light sucked back into his hands and he looked down at her, "You don't have a single speak of the Gift, completely empty." Lindhall frowned too, and seemed to zone out thinking, heavily about something. Numair turned to Alex, "All right Alexander, your turn, please don't speak..." Alex had begun to open his mouth, but he quickly shut it again. Numair reached his hands back out and the light went into Alex's skin, and after a while came back out, "Hmm...very interesting...you are empty as well..."  
  
He moved onto Devic, who was sitting next to Alex in the front row and conducted the same procedure, "Well Devic, you seem to have the Gift." He looked up and addressed the rest of the class, "If you have the Gift, after I am finished testing for it, please follow me and I will take you to your classroom." Devic looked surprised and Numair moved on to the next desk.  
  
In the end, thirteen people had the Gift and twelve didn't. Of course, not all of the thirteen people had a strong Gift, but it was enough to get them into the class. The pages went into their different classrooms accordingly and their next lesson began.  
  
A/N: Sorry if that seemed a little rushed, but then again, I was rushing so ya...this isn't my best chapter, but oh well... 


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Thanks for being patient and stuff...um...ya...I've been having literally a ton of homework every day (even on the weekends!!) so I have been having trouble finding time to write...  
  
Two days had passed since their classroom studies, and Tom, Phi, and Alex were sitting in the Dinning Hall eating breakfast (they had finally gotten used to the bell schedule and were actually able to make it down stairs in time for breakfast today...), when King Jonathan walked out of a room and onto a raised platform at the end of the hall. Instantly the entire room went silent with respect for the monarch, who cleared his throat and said, "I wish to inform all the first year pages that they will be going on their annual survival trip a little early this year..."  
  
Devic turned to Phi and whispered, "Really early... most of the other pages go at the end of a training year, so they have all the skills they will need..."  
  
Phi was about to ask him what skills they were supposed to have, when the king decided to continue his speech, "You will be riding out and meeting the King's Own," the room grew silent again, "and learning what happens in battle when they defend Tortall from the Scanran troops that, as you probably all know, are advancing on our capital. You won't be fighting of course, just observing. Your training instructor has informed me that he will keep you at a safe distance away from the battle, and he wished me to allow you first years to go so you can get an experience which, unfortunately, many of our older pages and squires all ready have."  
  
Excited whispers spread through the hall and some of the older pages and squires looked enviously at the younger ones, obviously wanting to witness the famed King's Own in action. Tom, however, looked a little dubious, "Is that really a good idea? To take a bunch of ten and eleven year olds, not to mention a fifteen year old and a seventeen year old into battle like that?"  
  
Phi turned to him and grinned, "What? You don't plan on going?"  
  
He looked at her, "Noooo...Personally, I don't take a lot of delight in seeing people getting slashed into ribbons...besides, things are just beginning to get really interesting in Numair's study. He thinks he might have found a way to get us back home..."  
  
Alex looked down at his plate, "It's gonna be weird going back, ya know? Speaking english again, riding in cars, seeing concrete, flushing toilets...hmm...actually, it might be kinda nice to get back home."  
  
Jonathan walked back out of the room, and the excited whispers turned into excited yelling. The three teens excused themselves then walked back upstairs because Phi and Alex needed to pack and Tom just didn't have anything else to do for once. Devic caught up with them at the top of the stairs, "Hey! Phi, Alex! You just missed HaMich telling us that we're heading out tomorrow, so we had better get our gear together."  
  
"That's what we're just about to do...what exactly will we need to take?"  
Devic thought for a moment, then said, "Well...my older brother was a page and he told me that when they went out, they brought a bed roll, a few shelters for the trainers and guests, and each person carried a bag of food, a change of clothing, and they rode in their armor with their gear tied to their horses."  
  
Phi looked at Alex, "...Did you catch any of that?"  
  
"Not after the 'my older brother was a page...' part."  
  
Tom shook his head, "It sounds like all you need is a sleeping bag, one tent, an extra pair of clothing, and some food."  
  
"Oh...thanks Devic! Are we still having lessons today?"  
  
"Nope. Lessons are cancelled so we can get ready. It's not just the packing that takes time. You'll also probably want to eat all the food you can get your hands on and get a lot of rest, because I hear the food is awful and we have to ride for hours without breaks so our bottoms will get really sore."  
  
Phi looked at the boy, "Sounds like...fun... We'll meet you at dinner then!" she turned to Alex and Tom, "I guess we should start."  
  
Alex nodded and the three walked up the stairs and into their rooms.  
  
***  
  
Phi started when the dinner bell rang. She had been taking Devic's advice and had spent the last two hours napping. She looked over at her packed bag. Tom and Alex had been by earlier, making sure that she was finished, claiming that they wanted to make sure she was packing light because they knew how much girls hated to rough it. She grinned as she remembered that it had turned out that her bag was smaller than theirs!  
  
She walked out of her room and met her brother and Alex in the hall. From Tom's dishelved hair, she guessed that they had been napping too.  
  
Together they walked down to the first floor of the palace, along the way meeting some of the other pages and squires that were coming down for supper. Alex kept joking that the trip would be like Lord of the Flies and that the pages would revolt against HaMich and become wild savages and paint their faces. Phi and Tom laughed and a few of the other pages wanted to know what was so funny. Fortunately, before the teens had to explain what they were laughing at they ran into Kel at the front of the Dinning Hall, "So, I hear that two of you are going on the trip tomorrow."  
  
Phi smiled, "Ya...Do you have any advice for us?"  
  
Kel grimaced, "Never tell anyone your afraid of heights...Oh! I almost forgot! You're going to meet up with the King's Own, are you not?" they nodded, "Good. That should be Raoul's squad. Dom should be there if you need anything."  
  
Tom grinned, "That's good to know; who knows what evils these two will wreak upon the poor, unsuspecting pages!" Kel looked a little alarmed and he laughed, "I'm only joking! I think..."  
  
The three waved good-bye to Kel and went into the Dinning Hall so Alex and Phi could enjoy their last meal in the palace before they went.  
  
A/N: If you can't tell... this story's a little shorter than the other ones. But I have noticed that I tend to be procrastinating more often these days, probably from homework, or maybe just laziness...who knows...well, I do, but for my own personal safety I won't tell. I've decided to try something new. I'm going to write shorter chapters, but write more often! I promise to anyone who's still reading this, that I WILL finish this story, in case any of you are wondering...(that is, of course, if any of you are still reading...). 


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Ha! I told you that I would update more frequently!  
  
Phi and Alex had woken up with the rest of the first year pages at the sound of the first bell. They gathered their things and walked with Tom down to the stables. Tom turned to his friend and pulled him aside, "Alex...I need to ask you a favor..."  
  
Alex looked curiously at him, "Sure...What is it?"  
  
"I need you to keep an eye on Phi for me while you're out there, okay?"  
  
"No problem...but why? She can take care of herself. You of all people should know that..."  
  
"I do know...but..." Alex starred at Tom. He didn't normally act this...weird...  
  
"But what?"  
  
"I don't know. That's the problem. I just have this feeling. A gut feeling, ya know? The one that says something's going to go wrong and I won't be there to help."  
  
Alex grew concerned. Tom the scientist had never paid any attention to "gut feelings" before. "Don't worry...I'll take care of her."  
  
Tom looked slightly unconvinced but nodded thankfully and walked with Alex back to the gathering group of first years.  
  
HaMich was just finishing his head count and when he was sure everyone was there he said, "Now I want to make it clear that all of you know that this venture is purely to allow you to watch real knights in battle. You won't be doing any of the fighting. That is not the only reason you are going. You are also going to learn survival skills, how to trust one and another, and your companion's strong and weak points. Knowing your allies inside and out and trusting them with your life is one of the most important keys to knighthood. Never forget it. We will be leaving in five minutes. Use that time to check your horses and your supplies before we head off...I don't want anyone finding out when we set up camp that they forgot all their rations again..." A murmur of snickers ran through a crowd and Phi and Alex deducted that the training master had just made a joke that had passed right over their foreign heads. HaMich strode off to let the pages check their things and Tom walked over to Phi.  
  
"When you get back I don't want to hear anything about how you mortally wounded anyone okay?"  
  
She grinned, "I'll try to control myself...of course I heard a rumor that Alex and I will have to share a tent...so I can't make any promises..."  
  
Alex groaned, "Isn't that lovely...I'm going to 'mortally wound' whoever set up that seating chart..."  
  
Tom laughed and to his sister's surprise and slight embarrassment, hugged her, "Stay safe alright?"  
  
She looked confused, "Um...all right...once again, I'll try my best..." He let her go as HaMich came back into the room.  
  
"All right everybody! Mount up and let's ride out!" An excited burst of energy ran through the first years and they all followed HaMich's orders and trotted out of the stables, leaving Tom to watch them ride off. He sighed and a shiver ran down his back. He had a huge headache and decided to go to Duke Baird to see if he could do anything about it.  
  
After several minutes, a small figure arose from Peachblossom's stall. The horse whinnied and nuzzled the boy who gently stroked the horse's mane. The boy sat down next to Peachblossom's hooves and pondered over what he had just heard. Tom had said that he had had a feeling that something wasn't right. From tagging along with Kel he had learned that trusting your feelings is very important. In fact, it was the reason that he was even in the palace in the first place...if Kel hadn't trusted her feelings and bought his contract, he would still be in that hellhole.  
  
He stood up and walked quickly walked out of the room, his mind made up. He would tell Kel what had happened...she would know what to do.  
  
***  
  
Kel looked surprised, dropping her usually unemotional demeanor, "Tom said what?"  
  
Toby sighed and repeated what he had just said, "Tom told Alex ta keep a close eye 'n Phi 'cause he had a strange feelin' that seemed ta confuse him that somethin' bad was gonna happen on the trip!"  
  
Kel frowned. From her experiences with Tom, although limited, had lead her to believe that he wasn't a person who believed much in premonitions. Plus, Numair had been absolutely clear when he told herself, King Jonathan, Merric, Esmond, and Owen that none of them had even a spark of any gift...which means that he couldn't have really predicted the future or anything...unless...  
  
She looked at Toby, "Was there anything else wrong with Tom?"  
  
"Well, he looked kinda tired, an' he kept rubbing his head, as if it hurt or somethin', but I couldn't see much, 'cause I was behind Peachblossom's stall at the time...but I heard him talk to himself an' say somethin' 'bout Duke Barid"  
  
Kel nodded, her attention drifting. Suddenly she stood up and walked out of her room to the Infirmary wing. If Tom was visiting Neal's father, maybe she could find out for sure.  
  
She made it into the Examing Room just as Tom was getting up to go. She gently pushed the teen back into the chair and walked over to the Duke, "I need you to do something..."  
  
Toby, who had followed Kel there, looked curiously at her as she continued to whisper some thing to the Duke and watched him nod and look at Tom. Tome said nothing, but in turn, looked curiously at Kel as she finished her instructions to the Duke.  
  
Duke Baird walked over to Tom and said, "I'm going to run one more test that might help ease that headache of yours..." He stretched out his hands next to Tom's chest, and before Tom could say anything, a blue light stretched from the Duke's hands into Tom. Quickly, the older man stepped back, allowing the light to seep back into his hands. He turned to Kel, "Well Keladry, you were right. This young man has somehow developed a very weak, but nonetheless present, Gift."  
  
A/N: I hope that turn of events wasn't too obvious...but what's going to happen now? Was Tom's feeling really just a feeling, or actually a premonition of future events? Ha! Only I know!!! WHAHAHA!!! At least until my next update... 


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: I finally decided that I had built up the suspense enough and that I should write more...  
  
Alex sighed. The pages had only been on the road for two hours and his bottom was already sore. He looked down at his horse and wished that he had brought a car with him, or a bike at the very least. Phi was busy talking with Devic about the trip, the King's Own, and the Scanrans, and Alex was bored so he decided to join in the conversation.  
  
Phi curiously asked the page, "So who are these Scanran people anyway?"  
  
The boy looked surprised, then he remembered that they were from another dimension, so they wouldn't have known about Tortall's enemy, "They are a group of roaming barbarians that just recently joined under one leader. Our country was just at war with them and was barely able to pull through the fight because we were also trying to deal with the constant flow of immortals into our world."  
  
Alex nodded and turned in his saddle to face Devic, "Tom was reading one of the Palace's log books that was written just a year ago...Did the Scanrans really develop robots?"  
  
The boy looked confused, "Ro-what?"  
  
"Robots...men made of metal."  
  
"Oh! They sure did...In fact, I think that Lady Keladry fought one of them herself before."  
  
Phi piped up, "It would be interesting to see them...Did they run on electricity?"  
  
"No." Devic suddenly became serious, "They ran on children's souls."  
  
Phi turned to Alex and came him a nervous glance, "It sounds like something out of a horror movie..."  
  
Alex nodded in agreement and Devic sighed, "I guess it would be pointless to ask you what a movie is..." Phi grinned and the boy continued, "That's what I thought...I'm going to ride up to the front of the line...last I heard, we should be setting up camp in four hours."  
  
Alex grimaced and readjusted his position on the saddle that was beginning to feel like it was made of concrete, "Great..."  
  
Phi laughed, "What's the matter? Is Alexander getting tired already?"  
  
"No...maybe...a little...yes..." He sighed, "Is it just me or is your rear getting tired too?"  
  
She grinned, "Ha! Mine lost it's feeling half an hour ago!"  
  
***  
Finally, HaMich called the party to a stop and all the pages gratefully dismounted and took care of their horses before getting a campsite ready. Everyone was assigned to a specific task to help prepare camp. It was Phi's job to find a water source and Alex had to help dig a ditch. He asked what the ditch was for, and after someone finally told him, he scowled and went to pick up a shovel.  
  
While he was looking through the group supplies, Phi came up to him and asked, "Do you know where the nearest fresh-water stream is by chance?"  
  
"Nooo...why don't you ask someone who actually lives here..."  
  
"I tried, but either no one will tell me or nobody knows...it's going to be forever until we get any water if I don't get some help soon..."  
  
"Have you tried asking HaMich?"  
  
"Yep...he said I should have been paying attention while he explained how to find water..."  
  
"Well you probably should have been..."  
  
"Oh shut up! You weren't paying attention either!"  
  
"Well at you don't have to dig an outhouse!"  
  
While they were arguing, Devic came up from behind them grinning, "What are you two doing?"  
  
Phi sighed in frustration, "Our jobs that some idiot assigned to us..."  
  
Devic shook his head, "HaMich is just testing you...here," he tossed Alex a shovel, "The shovels were under the extra blankets. Phi, I think there's a stream over there..."  
  
The two teens looked surprised and Alex said, "Won't you get in trouble for helping us?"  
  
The boy shrugged, "Who's going to tell them?"  
  
Phi laughed, "Alex, I think we were a bad influence on him!"  
  
Alex smiled, "And there's nothing wrong with that...Thanks kid." The two stood up and went to work. Devic smiled happily and went back to his own chores.  
  
***  
That night, the pages had built up three separate campfires; one was for HaMich, any brown-noser that wanted to sit by him, and the troublemakers from the ride, one was for a large group of boys, mostly the ones that were friends of the boy that Phi had humiliated, and the last one was for a smaller group which consisted of Phi, Alex, Devic, and his friends. The boys were busy telling old war stories and legends and the two foreigners listened carefully, hanging on their every word.  
  
Soon it was Alex's turn to tell a story. Everyone, including Phi, looked at him expectantly and he sighed and rubbed his hands together, trying to keep warm in the increasingly colder weather, "I don't really know any good stories you guys..."  
  
Phi poked him in the shoulder playfully, "Then make one up!"  
  
"Fine! But I'm warning you! It will have no plot whatsoever and be terrible..." All the younger boys leaned in closer, their faced illuminated with the dancing flames of the campfire, "All right...um," he dropped his voice to a low, spooky whisper that seemed to echo from the woods themselves, "My tale begins on a night such as this one. It was cold, unnaturally so, the moon was full, the sky was clouded, and the wind was gently howling through the branches of the dead, bare trees..."  
  
Phi grinned, "You've done this before, haven't you?"  
  
"Yes, now be quiet Phiona or the spirits from the beyond will find you easier...Now as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by a certain impudent mortal...The air seemed heavy as three young boys rode out of their town that night. They were all ten years old and good friends. They had grown up in the same little town and cared for each other like brothers. So when one of their mothers told them to go out of town one night, of course all of them agreed to it together. As the night dragged on, the three steered their horses into the forest. One of them didn't want to go in but the other two didn't pay any attention to the third, so he had no choice but to go along. They rode deeper and deeper into the woods when the wind stopped blowing and the clouds moved in front of the moon. It grew dark, as the moon was their only source of light and the boys could barely see one foot ahead of them. Suddenly they heard a piercing scream from deep in the forest and their horses threw them off and galloped away, driven insane from the noise." As Alex made up the story on the spot, he grinned inwardly as the pages leaned closer and closer to him and he quieted his voice even more so that it was barely above a whisper. Even Phi looked interesting in his story, so after a brief dramatic pause, he continued.  
  
"The boys huddled together, frightened by the terrible sound they had heard and they sat in the baleful darkness until finally the wind picked up again and drew the clouds away from the moon and an eerie yellow glow filled the woods and threw strange shadows on the ground. The boys looked around and realized that they were hopelessly lost. They agreed that they had no choice but to set up a camp for the night and find out where they were when it became light again. The three boys each took a job. One of them went to forage for food and water since the horses had had their supplies on when they bolted. Another went to collect firewood so that they could get a fire going, as it was almost pitch black and they could only see a few feet ahead of them. The last one decided to set up camp, and since he had the gift he was able to create a soft glow in the still air, casting eerie shadows all about him. All of a sudden, he heard a scream off in the woods, different from the one that they had heard before. Fearing for his friend's safety, he ran towards the sound, but when he got to the spot where the sound had come from, it was too late, his friend was gone." Leaving that up for interpretation, Alex took a breath and looked at his audience. They were looking at him with wide eyes, even Phi looked enwrapped in the story. He took another deep breath for emphasis and continued.  
  
"The boy didn't know what to do where to go. He needed to find his other friend so they could battle this unknown evil together. He called out to his friend, and to his relief, his fiend responded not too far off. Before they could reunite, the boy heard that terrifying scream again, but this time it came from right behind him. He turned around quickly, only to find shadows flickering across the dense trees. His friend called out to him, asking where he was. He responded, but heard no reply. A deep fear formed in the pit of his stomach as he raced towards his last hope of survival. But he couldn't find him." By this point Alex was talking softly, forcing the rest of the group to lean in to hear him.  
  
"The boy started to shake, he was alone and afraid with no weapon but his weak magic. All of a sudden he heard a rustle behind him. He turned and saw that a bush was moving ever so slightly. He stepped towards it and called out his friend's name softly, hoping it was just him. The bush rustled harder in response. He stooped down and reached into the bush," Alex's voice was at a whisper now, everyone leaning in closely, "and then... IT GOT HIM!!!" Alex grabbed two of the nearest boys' arms. They all screamed girlishly and a few fell off the logs they were sitting on.  
  
Phi laughed so hard that tears came to her eyes and Alex joined her, chuckling as the people around the other fires gave them strange looks. Alex stood up and sighed happily, "Now that I've scared the crap out of all of you, I think it is time for me to retire." He laughed quietly the entire way back to his tent.  
  
A/N: Hee hee! Don't worry, I'm getting to the climax, I just wanted to have some bonding time, ya know? Hope ya liked it... 


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Wow...I must be important! I have already received two potentially threatening reviews! Yay! I feel so special!  
  
Phi crawled out of her tent, happy from finally being able to get one long night of sleep. Without having to wake up for the accursed bell, she was able to sleep as long as she wanted, which was to about ten. Then again, she thought grimly she had had to share a tent with Alex...that was annoying.  
  
***  
(Flashback!!) After Alex went into his tent for the night, Phi decided that it was time for her to hit the hay too, so she asked Devic if he knew where she was sleeping, "Sure. I think you're supposed to share a tent with Alex..."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Well...we all need to double up because there weren't enough tents to go around, and you're the only girl here and he is the only one that really knows you so..."  
  
She rubbed her forehead, "Does he know about this..."  
  
"There's only one way to find out..."  
  
She stalked over to the tent Alex had disappeared into and smacked the flap of fabric that served as a door, "Alex...I know you're still awake.."  
  
He stuck his head out suspiciously, "What do you want?"  
  
"I want to know if you know that we are going to be sharing a tent tonight..."  
  
He went pale, "We're going to what?!?"  
  
"Ya, that's basically what I said..."  
  
"No way am I going to share a tent with you...first of all I'll never get any sleep...and second of all, it's just wrong!"  
  
She smirked and replied dryly, "I guess they don't have the same set of moral standards here as they do back home..."  
  
He scowled but finally moved out of the entranceway and let her in. The tent wasn't big at all. In fact, it looked about like a pup tent and was about six feet long and five feet wide. He looked away uncomfortably as she began to get undressed under her blanket and he only turned around after she had stopped moving and he was sure she was completely under the cover, "Oh relax will you! It's not like I sleep naked or anything!"  
  
He blew out the lantern and settled in himself, "I know...but still...". She cut him off with a wave of her hand and they both fell asleep within minutes.  
  
***  
Phi groaned as the sun hit her straight in the eyes and stumbled up out of the tent and over to the fire pit where most of the boys were gathered. Alex had gotten up early, she had heard him leave, and she spotted him now sitting next to Devic, who looked sickingly awake, talking about what they were going to do that day.  
  
Phi yawned and sat down on the log next to her friend. Alex glanced at her, "You missed breakfast..."  
  
"That's fine...I'm not all that hungry anyway..."  
  
Devic grinned, "How can you sleep for that long? I was up at seven!"  
  
She glanced at him and shook her head, "Just wait until you get older...believe me, you will want to sleep until noon..."  
  
He was about to disagree when HaMich came out of the forest and announced that he was going to go scout for the King's Own and that he was going to leave the pages alone for a few hours. Alex groaned, "Here comes Lord of the Flies..."  
  
Phi snickered and HaMich looked directly at them. She quickly shut up and he motioned for them to come over to him. Phi and Alex looked uncomfortably at each other then stood up and walked over to the training master. He pulled them aside from the rest of the pages and said, "Since you two are the oldest ones here, I'm going to put you two in charge. Even though you are not exactly familiar with our world yet, I suspect that common sense will still allow you two to be fairly descent baby-sitters while I am away..."  
  
Alex looked concerned, but kept his thoughts to himself, but Phi however had no problem with voicing her concerns, "Wait a minute! What if something happens! What are we supposed to do?"  
  
The training master looked at her blankly, "Figure it out." He jumped on his horse and galloped away before Alex could reply. Phi's jaw hung open and she starred and watched him as he rode off into the woods.  
  
"What the hell was that supposed to mean?"  
  
Alex sighed and put his hands in his pockets, "I dunno, but I bet we'll find out soon enough..."  
  
They wandered over to the rest of the pages who looked up expectantly at the older teens. Alex stepped foreword and cleared his throat, "We have just been informed that we are to be in charge while our training master is away. We would appreciate it greatly if all of you would respect the both of us just as you would HaMich, but since we know that such a thing would never happen in a million years, we are willing to give him a good report when he comes back as long as no one does anything terrible or life threatening to any of our fellow members. However, until then, y'all can do whatever the heck you want because we really don't care."  
  
A couple of the boys where grinning after Alex finished speaking, but most of them where all ready walking away aimlessly, talking about random things and goofing off. Alex looked up and yelled, "Just don't wander off or get yourselves lost! That would be a bad thing!"  
  
He turned around to Phi and shrugged and they walked over to Devic and his friends to wait until HaMich got back.  
  
A/N: Ya! Another short chapter! Ha! You can't kill me now! Wahahahahaha!!!!*cough* Anyways, um...ya...keep reading and reviewing and I'll keep typing! 


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: *Shuffles feet* Fine...I've decided to write more...ARE YOU ALL HAPPY NOW!?!?!?!  
  
*Back at the Palace*  
Tom starred blankly at the wall of Numair's study, waiting for the mage to come down the stairs. After his little incident in the infirmary, he had gone directly to the study, nervous that he had made Numair wait for him, only to find that the mage wasn't even there.  
  
His hands had begun to glow faintly. At first, he thought it was just his mind playing tricks on him and he shook his head. But when he looked at his hands again they were glowing even stronger than before. He held them up in front of his face and examined them carefully. Except for the strange light yellow glow, nothing seemed different about him, except that he felt kind of funny, like he was being stretched out in every direction. He was about to pick up a magnifying glass and take a closer look at his skin when he heard the door leading to the study open and then close and footsteps coming down the stairwell. Tom quickly sat down on his hands and gave Numair an innocent look as he entered the room, "Hello Numair, I hope I didn't keep you waiting..."  
  
"Not at all. Actually I had just finished breakfast when...Why is the seat of your chair glowing?"  
  
"Um..." Tom was just about to come up with some random excuse when, as if on cue, Kel stepped into the room.  
  
"Numair, there's something you should probably know about Tom..."  
  
Numair looked up at her confused, "What in Mithros's name is going on?"  
  
Kel sighed and explained patiently, "Tom has the Gift..."  
  
"But how! I examined him a week ago and he was completely empty!"  
  
"...well he isn't anymore...Show him Tom."  
  
Tom sheepishly pulled out his hands and showed them to Numair, who quickly put on a leather glove and grabbed it, "Amazing...Tom must have had the Gift all along but it just now began to come out, most likely because of the prolonged contact with our world....This is absolutely fascinating...And I have never seen this color of magic before either! Extraordinary..."  
  
Just then, one of Numair's gloves slipped and Tom's magic swirled into Numair who yelped and pulled away. Tom looked horrified as the mage began to rub his wrist, "Oh my God! Numair! Are you okay!?"  
  
The mage looked a bit sullen and Tom heard Kel snickering from the top of the staircase. Numair looked up at her and scowled, "Yes, I am quite all right...I suppose I should have realized that you have no idea how to control your Gift...Here, wear these..." He picked up the gloves he was wearing and shoved them onto Tom's hands, "That should keep down the interference of your magic as we work..."  
  
***back at camp***  
  
Phi was so bored. It was already mid-day and there was still no sign of HaMich. It had already been two hours and she was getting impatient...not that she usually minded being bored...just being around about thirty bored boys, including a certain 17 year old who was trying to throw a dagger into a tree trunk and have it stick.  
  
"Damn it!" Alex sighed in frustration as he went to pick up his dagger for the forty-third time, "This always works in the movies!"  
  
Phi grinned and called out, "Too bad this isn't a movie!"  
  
"I know that! It could be one though...maybe when we go back to our world I'll make a movie out of this and become rich and famous..."  
  
Phi snorted disbelievingly and began to pick at the grass she was sitting on. She lifted up her head and looked around the camp. Devic and his friends were talking underneath the far tree, that kid she despised was wandering around in the forest...she paused for a moment and wished that he would get eaten by a bear, then continued... one boy was asleep in a hammock thingy while another was sitting in a tree with one of his friends.  
She leaned back against the rock she leaning on and began to bang her head against it.  
  
***Yet another view change!***  
  
HaMich lead his horse down the path that a scout had said the King's Own had taken...so where were they? He had already been traveling for quite some time and was becoming increasingly nervous about the safety of his charges...It's wasn't that he didn't trust Phiona and Alexander...no wait...yes it was.  
  
As his horse continued down the path at a steady pace he began to look for hints along the trail for the missing squadron, hoping to find some sign that they had at least come by this way. The only reason that he could think of why he couldn't find them was if the Scanrans they had been following had shifted their course and were heading in some other direction...What would happen if they ran into the pages? He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of all such thoughts and began to concentrate on finding the King's Own.  
  
***Back to Camp!***  
  
Darkness was beginning to fall and Phi and Alex were starting to get nervous. Where the hell was HaMich? Phi called in all the pages, even the one she didn't like...although not until after Alex reminded her that he was still missing, and they all started a fire and began to fix dinner.  
  
Devic looked around nervously, "Where do you think HaMich is Phi?"  
  
"Dunno...I'm guessing he hasn't found the King's Own yet though..."  
  
Alex piped up, carrying a plate in his hands, "You guys should go get something to eat...and come sit by the fire before it gets too dark..."  
  
The three walked back over to the flames but Phi and Alex only half- listened to the boy's conversations... from time to time they looked at each other, knowing full well that if something had happened to their training leader it would be their responsibility to go and look for him.  
  
As the night drew on the talk grew quieter until only two or three boys were speaking. It was ten-ish, but no one wanted to go into their tents because they wanted to be awake when HaMich came back with the King's Own so they wouldn't miss anything. Phi had fallen asleep on Alex's shoulder but suddenly woke up as if she had been startled. Alex grabbed her shoulders and shook her completely conscious and she whipped her head around and starred intently out into the enclosing darkness.  
  
The conversation stopped and Alex looked her in the eyes, "Phi...Phi what's wrong?"  
  
"I heard...I heard something..."  
  
"But...you were asleep...It was probably just a nightmare or something..." She nodded, not quite sure, and the group settled into an uneasy silence. Devic kept looking around nervously, as if he too had heard the noise.  
  
Then, on the far side of the camp, where Devic and his friends had been talking earlier, a tall bush began to shake. Everyone whipped around and starred at it, reminded of Alex's story and fear could be seen in everyone's eyes, even Alex, who had made up the story. The boy next to Alex began to tremble slightly and he regretted ever having told that story in the first place.  
  
The bush stopped moving, and everyone in camp held their breath, waiting for another sound. Alex was just about to say how silly they all looked when he heard the sound of hoof beats. Devic smiled nervously at Phi and Alex, "Okay, so how did you guys rig this joke up?"  
  
Phi shook her head, too petrified to speak and Alex moved over to his tent . He got there and reached in and pulled out his sword. He came back to the fire and looked at the boy, "We didn't..."  
  
Devic gulped and some of the boys reached towards their belts and fingered their daggers. Alex got up his courage, convincing himself that he was only nervous because of the darkness and that ridiculous story that he had made up and called out, "Hello? HaMich? Is that you? ...please let it be you..." The bush began to move again and slowly, several somethings stepped out of the shadows.  
  
***Back to the Palace...Wahahahahahahaha!!!***  
  
Tom woke up with a start, his head pounding. He rolled out of bed and landed on the floor. He curled up in pain and tried not to cry out, but as soon as it had come, the feeling vanished. He carefully got to his feet and looked at his hands. They were glowing an eerie pale gold, like the color of a full moon on a cloudy night. Suddenly a vision hit him straight on and he fell to the ground in shock and gasped. The image had only lasted for a moment, but the picture was burned into his memory and he would remember it for the rest of his life.  
  
He sprang to his feet again and skidded out into the hallway, practically knocking his door off its hinges in the process. He sprinted down the hall until he reached the room he was looking for. He pounded on Kel's door, without paying any attention to the annoyed, tired comments coming from the near-by rooms.  
  
The lady knight flung her door open, and Toby peered over her shoulder, "WHAT is the matter Tom!"  
  
"It's Phi and Alex! Something terrible has happened..." He was about to continue when he went pale and slumped to the ground, unconscious, unused to the amounts of magic he had just used.  
  
Kel picked the teen up and called for help. Immediately, Esmond, Owen, and Merric flung open their doors, which were right next to hers, all of them with their hair disheveled and Merric was even still carrying his pillow, which he quickly dropped. Neal was out of the Palace, otherwise, he would've been there too. Together, they lifted Tom off the ground and carried him to the infirmary. On the way there, Kel told them all in a shaky voice what had happened. Esmond asked what Tom had seen, but she quickly explained that he hadn't told her.  
  
A/N: Oh my! I wonder what happened?! And only I know!! Wahahahaha! Did enough happen in this chapter for all of you impatient ones? Then again, more will happen next time, but I feel evil today...heh heh... 


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: heh heh...I'm finally back and I have decided that it is about time that I finished the semi-cliffhanger that I started...  
  
***Back at camp***  
  
One of the figures slowly raised something into the air and before anyone could react, an arrow tipped with a burning rag sped past the pages and landed straight into one of the tents. Alex swore and yelled for everyone to take cover as seven or more armed Scanran came thundering into the clearing, slashing at tents and supplies and lighting things on fire with their torches. They were dressed in heavy furs, metal armor, and helmets, some carrying broadswords and other wielded double-sided axes. Four of the riders surrounded the first years, who raised their daggers and swords in defense...of course, a dagger wasn't going to do much against a broadsword.  
  
One of them aimed a blow at Alex but he was able to block in time. He yelled as the blades crossed and stepped back from the impact. The rider swung his sword several more times, but he was just playing with the teen. Finally, Alex broke the normal pattern of fighting and swung his blade lower than the Scanran was prepared for and cut the warrior in the side. The man grimaced from under his metal helmet and starred at Alex with a new gleam of hatred in his eyes. The boy swore to himself and tried to defend as the blade of his enemy crashed down on his own and he fell to the ground.  
The next thing he knew he felt a sharp, pounding pain in the back of his head and he fell face forward into the dirt unconscious. The Scanran who was behind him raised the shield he had used to knock Alex out with and swung him over his broad shoulder.  
  
Then the four warriors who were surrounding Phi and the pages broke their formation and all of a sudden charged the girl who, without any weapons, was quickly captured. One of the men rode past the group and hoisted Phi up onto his saddle as if she were a rag doll and put a knife to her throat so close that she felt a trickle of blood run down every time the horse they were on jolted.  
  
The pages were frozen in their spots, having no clue what to do in order to save their new friends. Only Devic reacted and he actually managed with the help of two of his friends, to tackle one of the footmen to the ground. They quickly bound his hands and feet after removing all of his noticeable weapons, and Devic put two others in charge of sitting on the man's back so he wouldn't be able to move. The boy watched in horror as the rest of the make-shift Scanran army rode off into the forest and he felt a wave of despair flow over him like he had never felt before, not even when his older brother had died in the last war. He sunk to the ground and stared at the path the enemy had made, heading north, away from Tortall and to the Scanran boarder as the remains of their tents and supplies began to smolder on the cold ground.  
  
***Back at the Palace***  
  
Tom finally came around just as the sun was rising over the far-off mountains. He blinked and realized that Kel, Tobe, Merric, Owen, Esmond, Numair, Daine, and Duke Baird were all hovering above him. He quickly sat up and blushed, not liking all of the worried attention that he was getting. The duke smiled happily at his awakening and leaned him back down on the examination table. Tom blinked several more times before looking up at everyone, "...What happened?"  
  
Kel looked the most worried and her face was pale, "You came to my room last night and you were about to tell me something important...about Phi and Alex."  
  
"I was?" Suddenly a huge wave of memories swooped down on his and he sat up again, this time panicked, "They need my help!"  
  
"What is going on Tom?"  
  
"I had a dream...but it wasn't a dream...it was like I was there, with them, it felt real..."  
  
The duke's expression darkened, "That is often how a seer feels after a strong vision..."  
  
Esmond, tired of all the beating around the push, chimed in, "What did you see Tom?!"  
  
His voice was shaky and full of bottled-up emotion, "I saw...the pages camp being raided, by horsemen with long swords and axes. They set the tents and supplies on fire, and then...Alex tried to fight but was struck down from behind...and... Phi. Phi was defenseless and was captured by one of the riders...her neck was bleeding..."  
  
Owen went pale and Merric muttered some kind of prayer. Kel looked Tom straight in the eye, "Was the King's Own there? Or Master HaMich, was he there? What happened to the other pages?"  
  
Tom looked confused and lost for a moment, but continued, "I couldn't see either the King's Own or HaMich...and the pages. It was so odd. I could see them, but I could also feel what they were feeling at the time..."  
  
"...What were they feeling Tom..."  
  
"They felt...lost, scared...unprotected...mad at themselves for not saving Phi and Alex and at...the knights for not saving them in time..."  
  
Kel turned away and sighed, looking exhausted even though she was just asleep four hours ago, "All right. It seems clear to me that the only thing we can do is ride out and find Dom and the King's Own and find out what happened to HaMich..."  
  
Tom stood up shakily, "I'm coming too."  
  
This time Numair stepped in, "Oh no you're not. You are much not worn out from last night. You are in no condition to be doing any traveling."  
  
Daine offered her input, "Numair's right Tom. I remember how tired I was after I tried my first real magic...I couldn't get out of bed for a day..."  
  
Tom ignored them both and walked out of the room he had just made it to the side door when the front one slammed opened and King Jonathan and Alanna stepped into the room. The knights quickly bowed, but the king put them at ease with a wave of his hand, "You, Thomas, are not going anywhere. It is far too dangerous. Alanna will lead a rescue party made up of which ever of Tortall's knights are ready for the venture in two hours. But Numair is right. You aren't ready for such a trip, and I don't intend to allow you to go."  
  
The teen looked back at the king with a gleam in his eye that frightened even Kel, "I'm going whether you allow it or not."  
  
The king sighed, obviously not accustom with ordering people around against their will, "I order you as the King of Tortall to remain here in the Palace."  
  
Tom turned back to the door and stepped out of the room, "I'm not one of your subjects..."  
  
He closed the door shut with a slam and forced his legs to run down to the stables.  
  
A/N: Sorry this one is kinda short but I am really busy tonight! 


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: I'm going to be gone for the rest of Memorial Weekend, but I'm going to try and write one more quick chapter (note the quick!) before I leave, which is really soon!  
  
***Back at the Palace...still***  
  
King Jonathan and everyone in the room was shocked. How dare Tom refuse a royal command like that? Such a thing was unheard of... The king sighed tiredly, "Duke Baird, I need you to accompany Alanna's group when they ride out so you can bring Tom back here when you catch up with him, I'm sure he's long gone by now..."  
  
The healer nodded and Numair said, "I would very much like to go to so I can help Tom..."  
  
The king interrupted him with a wave and said, "No, you are needed here. I have heard that you almost have a spell ready to send the three back to their world?"  
  
"Um...Yes, we were nearing a breakthrough..."  
  
"Good. That is what you must work on then." Numair and Daine bowed and left the room, heading for Numair's study. "Meanwhile, I will be with Sir Myles trying to figure out what in Mithros's name the Scanrans have captured Phiona and Alexander for." Jonathan turned to leave and the knights turned to each other.  
  
Alanna spoke up, "Okay, I want everyone who is going to be down at the stables in one hour, ready to leave. Bring supplies for the night, your armor, and any weapons you can spare. I don't know where the Scanrans are taking the children, but if they make it across our border, we are going to need all the extra supplies we can take." The group nodded and jogged off to get packed.  
  
*One hour later*  
  
Kel rushed down the stairs in full body armor with her sword in its sheath and her helmet under her arm. Tobe was running behind her with the supplies she would need to bring, two daggers, and an extra sword from the armory. She made it into the stables just as the clock struck seven and took the pile of stuff from Tobe and thanked him while he ran over and began to prepare Peachblossom for the ride.  
  
She was soon followed by Owen and Esmond, Merric coming in last but thankfully a moment before Alanna and Duke Baird stepped into view. Kel grinned. The Lioness had always been her hero, and seeing her in full battle armor with her helmet under one arm and her shield on the other made Kel so happy and she decided right there that she would follow the first lady knight anywhere.  
  
Alanna saddled up, and the rest of the knights followed her lead and together they thundered out of the Palace walls and pointed their horses towards the forest path. ***Tom's View***  
  
Tom was getting really, really tired. His horse was still riding towards the forest, in fact they were almost there, but for some reason, everything seemed fuzzy to him, like he needed glasses or something. He shook his head to try and make the feeling go away but it only became worse and he grew dizzy.  
  
He fell off the back of his horse just as they were entering the first clearing. The surprised stallion reared up and neighed loudly. When it saw that it's rider wasn't going to get back up for a while, the horse walked around the tree Tom had pulled himself over to and leaned his head against, and the horse lay down right beside him.  
  
***Back to the Knight's View***  
  
The duke squinted than shouted, "There is something propped up against that first tree along the path!" He rode ahead and dismounted, "It's Tom!"  
  
They found him asleep with his head resting in his hands, probably out of pure exhaustion. Kel went up to him and gently tapped him on the shoulder, then stood back as the teen kind of spazzed out then looked up at them. He groaned and stretched out his legs, "Did you catch up with me all ready? I thought it would have taken you longer than this..."  
  
Alanna grinned, "Did you now? To make a long story short, Duke Baird is taking you back to the palace."  
  
Tom stood up, "No he's not..."  
  
The duke sighed, already haven raised boys before, he knew how stubborn they could be, "Let's not start this again...You have already seen how hard it is for you to ride with out your supply of the Gift...there is no way you would be able to keep up with them."  
  
"Yes I could! At least let me try!" Tom saw that they had no intention of letting him ride with them, so he decided to do what he did with his mother, soften them up a bit, although everything he was about to say was one hundred percent true, "Please! I must go save my friend and my baby sister! They need me, if not for physical support, then at least for mental support! They are probably cold and confused right now...who knows! They might even be delusional! You need someone with you who they would recognize, someone that they trust..."  
  
Alanna shut him up with a sigh and a nod, "Fine...but if you faint or go unconscious once more, you are going straight back to the Palace..."  
  
Tom grinned and his horse got up, he mounted up, and they all rode off towards the pages camp.  
  
A/N: Ack! Sorry that was so short but my mother is yelling at me to get off the computer so we can go so this is all I can write for a few days so bye! 


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: I'm back! Yay!! Here's more story for you impatient people!  
  
***Pages' View***  
  
It had been at least two hours, maybe more, since the Scanrans had raided the camp and the one they had captured kept waking up, so they had to knock him unconscious again by hitting him with a shield. It was crude, but effective, and allowed them to take their anger out on something else than each other, although Devic had already punched the kid that didn't like Phi after he said that he was glad she was taken.  
  
Devic had took control of the group and became the unassigned leader after he knocked the other page out, and had the other pages and himself scavenge around the smoking debris that used to be their supplies to try and look for food. He was just about to give up when the entire camp heard the sound of approaching hoof beats again. Everyone froze and paled, thinking that the Scanrans were returning to get their man back and the pages almost shot Alanna with an arrow as she came hurdling into the campsite.  
  
Her horse reared up, "Put down your arms! For the sake of the gods, don't shoot us!!"  
  
The pages dropped their weapons and blushed and watched as the camp filled with knights and their horses. Tom was the first to dismount, and Devic ran to catch him as he practically fell out of the saddle. Tom quickly picked himself up and brushed himself off, looking towards Alanna to make sure that he didn't have to go back to the Palace because of it. She looked away, and he took that as a good sign. He then turned to Devic and grabbed the kid by the shoulders, "What happened to Phi and Alex?!"  
  
Devic looked down at his feet and his hair fell into his dirt smeared face as he muttered, "The Scanran troops raided our campsite...they took Phi and Alex with them..."  
  
Tom released the boy and sat down heavily onto the ground, resting his head in his hands. He had hoped that he had been wrong, that his vision was just a nightmare...but now that he saw the camp in real life, he knew that it had all been real.  
  
Kel and the rest of her friends dismounted and walked around the camp and Duke Baird made sure all the pages were all right. Kel walked over and sat down next to Tom, "There is nothing you could've done Tom..." A tear fell from Devic's eye and she looked up, surprised, "What is it?"  
  
"Maybe...he couldn't of done something, but I could have...but I just stood there...I couldn't move, I was useless."  
  
Tom lifted his head and looked the boy straight in the eyes, "You did the best you could and no one could've asked you to do anything more..."  
  
That finally broke Devic down and he fell into the older boys arms and began to sob quietly. Kel nodded, "It happens to all of us in our first fight...we call it 'seeing the kraken'...it just happened a little to early for you..." She stood up and walked towards Alanna while Tom hugged Devic and patted him on the back, his older brother instincts taking over.  
  
Alanna turned just as Kel reached her horse, looking very worn, and asked kindly "Is there something I can do for you Lady Keldarly?"  
  
The woman nodded, "Yes...you can tell me where the hell the King's Own is...these poor children, they should not have seen battle this early, they were not ready for the horrors of war, even from a small battle such as this..."  
  
Alanna nodded knowingly, "I agree. All we can do now though is wait until they find the camp, which shouldn't be long if HaMich is with them..." she sighed and dismounted, her armor hitting hard against the packed earth. She removed her helmet slowly, "Believe me, I want to know where are as much as you do..."  
  
Kel grimaced and wandered over to Merric and Owen who were comforting a small group of the boys.  
  
Nearly another hour had passed before the forest came alive again with more hoof beats. The knights drew their swords and stood near their horses but were quickly put to ease when they saw HaMich followed closely by the King's Own enter the clearing. Alanna sheathed her sword last and walked up to the leader of the Own and glared.  
  
The riders of the Own stared in disbelief at the pages camp before slowly dismounting. Lord Rauol was the last to get down, but was somewhat reluctant to do so with the Lioness standing right next to his horse in full body armor, her hand on her sword, and her eyes glittering dangerously. He could fit a giant, but the Lady knight was another matter altogether, "Alanna, what happened here?"  
  
"Well you would know if you had been here!" She pulled the leader of the Own away from the staring crowd and continued to scold him, "Where were you?!"  
  
"We were looking for the Scanran army...they kept on changing their course and they proved extremely hard to follow..."  
  
"Yes well guess where they went?" Rauol winced, guessing what was coming next, "They came into the FIRST YEAR PAGES CAMP!!! and you know what else? They CAPTURED Phiona and Alexander!"  
  
As Alanna continued to yell at her old friend, back at camp Dom crossed over to Kel, "Kel! What are you doing here? And what happened?"  
  
HaMich came over, "What happened to Phiona and Alex? I put them in charge here!"  
  
Kel sighed, "You know those Scanrans you were tracking?..."  
  
Dom nodded, "Yes...Oh gods...you mean?" Kel looked at him sadly, "Mithros..."  
  
The training master paled, "Is anyone injured?"  
  
Kel shook her head as Dom rubbed his forehead with a gloved hand, "I don't know...none of the pages at least..."  
  
"What do you mean you don't know? Where are Phi and Alex? Did...did the Scanrans kill them?"  
  
Kel shook her head a second time, "Hopefully not...they were captured though..."  
  
Dom swore and threw his hands up in the air, "Perfect! That must be what the Lioness is yelling at Rauol for..."  
  
Duke Baird walked by, "Hello Dom..."  
  
Dom did a double take, "Hello uncle...Uncle?! What are you doing here?"  
  
The duke smiled, "I'm taking care of my patient, over there..." He pointed at Tom who had by now released Devic and was sitting with the boy and Esmond.  
  
**Alex and Phi's View***  
  
Alex shook his head and forced his eyes to open. Suddenly, a huge bump jolted him awake and he sot up, almost falling backwards off of the back of a large horse.  
  
He was sitting behind a big man with a very large and pointy looking axe on his back and Alex could make out Phi sitting in front of another man, awake. She looked fine, except when he looked more carefully he could see a thin scratch running horizontally on her neck. He wanted to wave to let her know he was awake, but realized that he hands were bound and he couldn't move a muscle. He glared, unnoticed, at his guard, but finally gave up struggling after realizing that even if he somehow got loose, the rider's horses were making so much thundering noise that Phi probably wouldn't even hear him.  
  
She looked around and he was able to catch her eye out of luck. She smiled dryly, happy to see he was all right, but not to pleased with the current circumstances. She hated being the 'damsel in distress' and was currently yelling to herself in her mind about being more on guard and for being taken so easily.  
  
For the next hour or so, Phi and Alex had to be satisfied by just being able to look at a friendly face and once and a while mouthing words to each other.  
  
Finally, they reached a large, cold looking river and the riders stopped to make camp. They unloaded their horses and set their things on wooden pallets, including Phi and Alex., then started a fire, seemingly waiting for something.  
  
Alex crawled his way over to Phi, which was very difficult to do with out using his arms or hands and was basically exhausted when he got there. He collapsed next to her and she grinned and stared down at him, "Tired all ready? Our trip's just begun..."  
  
Alex laughed and sat up next to her, "Ya, well, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night..."  
  
"No? You seemed to have been asleep for hours to me..." He sighed as she rested her head on his shoulder, "I however, have not slept a wink, so don't mind me as I use your shoulder here as a pillow..."  
  
He smiled, "I don't think I would be able to get you off even if I wanted to..."  
  
She chuckled and snuggled into his shirt before falling into a dreamless sleep. He tried to stay awake but the sound of the water, her breathing, and the crackling of the fire all eventually lulled him to sleep and his head fell gently onto Phi's. The last thing he remembers thinking was, 'We're going to be really sore in the morning..."  
  
A/N: There...that wasn't that bad of a chapter...Oh ya! We're getting into a splitting of the paths in the story (Tom's view and Alex and Phi's view...) So I was wondering which you wanted to hear more of, if you'd rather have me follow Tom's trip more or Alex and Phi's trip more... please write your opinion in your review and please, PLEASE review! If you don't I'll just do whatever I want....which wouldn't be good...trust me... 


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: Fine! Since no one wants to help me out just a little tiny bit, I'll just have to do whatever I want...And by the way, I was taking so long because I was waiting for more opinion reviews!!  
  
***Tom's View***  
  
Tom awoke with a start. The knights had decided that the group (which now consisted of the first year pages and their training master, the King's Own, and a handful of knights from the palace...and himself) should stay at the camp for the rest of the day and they would head out in the morning. He hadn't liked the plan one bit and had said as much yesterday, but figured that he was too weak to go on on his own...now however, he was feeling almost as good as new.  
  
He quietly got up from his sleeping mat in between Devic and Owen and began to tip toe over to his horse, who immediately recognized him and began to paw at the ground, "No! Shhhh! You'll wake everyone up! Part of sneaking out is that no one sees you leave!" The horse grew silent, but looked warily at Tom as he climbed on top of it's back. He urged the horse forward and it reluctantly did so, probably remembering what happened the last time Tom had left the knights by himself...  
  
Tom had gone about ten miles by the time the sun rose over the treetops and was glad for a little light along the way. He didn't really know which way to go, but was half following a trail that seemed to have been trampled into the grass, and half following his instincts.  
  
***Back at camp...***  
  
Kel rose with the sun, as usual, rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and yawned. They had a long day ahead of them, so she figured that they should get an early start on things. She stumbled over to the fire pit and almost had a flame going when she glanced around the campsite. There was Lord Rauol, Lady Alanna, Dom, Duke Baird, Esmond, Merric, Owen, Devic...wait a minute. She focused harder on the empty spot between Owen and Devic. Where was Tom? She leapt up and practically fell on Dom, "Dom! Dom, wake up!!"  
  
Dom muttered something and put his hands up to try to defend himself against his assailant, "Go away Kel...It's too early for this..."  
  
She grabbed a bucket of water that was near the fire pit and dumped it onto his head. He shouted and leapt up, splattering water all over those sleeping next to him and Kel. He turned and glared at Kel, "WHAT?!"  
  
"Tom's gone."  
  
He whipped around and stared at Tom's empty sleeping mat and Alanna, who had been rudely awoken by Dom, sighed, "I expected him to do something like this...Come on, we had better go catch up with him before he gets himself killed..."  
  
With that the entire camp began to rise and hurried to get ready for their soon-to-be rescue mission.  
  
***Phi and Alex's View***  
  
Phi was woken up by a rough pair of hands as they grabbed her around the waist. She shouted and struggled to free herself from her captor, who only laughed and set her down hard on a small wooden raft. She glared at him as he lifted Alex up, who had awoken when she was taken away, and as he put her friend down on another small raft. There were three rafts altogether but they were all lashed together like some kind of weird train or caravan.  
  
An old man that Phi hadn't noticed before approached the Scanran leader and whispered something to him. The younger man nodded, and together, they jumped into the front raft and pushed the load out onto the wide, cold looking river. As they all sailed slowly across to the other bank, Phi caught Alex's eye and gave him a questioning look. He shrugged his shoulders to show that he didn't have a clue what was going on and she contented herself with watching the water as they glided over it, wishing that the rope the bound her wrists wasn't so rough because it was beginning to chaff her wrists.  
  
She heard Alex sigh and she closed her eyes and imagined that they were back in their old world, at a movie theater or at the beach...even just being at home and watching TV, and...dare she think it, going to school again. Without meaning to, she slowly drifted back off to sleep. As Alex watched her drift off he smiled to himself and wished that he could know what she was thinking, just this once.  
  
***Tom's View***  
  
He had been riding for a really long time now and he was beginning to get sore again. He was about to get off the horse at let it and himself take a short break when he heard running water. He paused for a moment, suddenly realizing how thirsty he was, and he turned the horse in that direction and they set off again at a quick trot.  
  
The sound grew louder, and in half an hour, he had rode up to a river. He scowled. The thing was as wide as a highway in Los Angeles, and probably just as dangerous! There was no way he was getting across it by himself. He dismounted and glanced around the bank of the river, thoroughly discouraged. He went to the edge of the bank and began to get a drink of water when something in the dirt by the side of the river caught his eye. He walked over to it and carefully examined it. It looked like a fire pit. He poked around the ashes and surprisingly he found that some of them on the bottom were still glowing red.  
  
He stood up again and looked around the abandoned campsite. As his eyes drifted over the ground, some scrape markings on the very edge of the river caught his eye. They were almost exactly where he had been standing before and wondered why he had not noticed them. It looked like something had been dragged out into the water...maybe a boat...He walked over to his horse and got on it's back. He needed to find a way across.  
  
Now he was sure that the Scanrans made the camp by the river and he knew that the knights wouldn't be far behind. He pushed his horse forward and it galloped down the river, it's rider looking desperately for a good crossing point.  
  
A/N: I know that was a bit short, but that is what you all get for not giving me good reviews! Actually, I shouldn't be saying that...that is what all of you except Clare get for not reviewing! I feel so unloved... 


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: OK...I feel better now...just to let you all know, due to the enormous amount of school work I am getting now at the end of the year, I won't be able to update as often...sorry...  
  
***Knight's View***  
  
It was easy for the King's Own to track the Scanran troops and the path that Tom had taken as soon as they cleaned up camp. Tracking enemies was basically in their job description so they arrived at the river early in the afternoon. The group of knights had taken the pages along with them because HaMich had felt that it was his duty to find Phi and Alex and they didn't want to send the children home by themselves.  
  
The pages had formed a small group in the back of the procession, huddling together and not talking to the older knights. Merric glanced over at Kel, who sighed unhappily, "Remember what Tom said when he told us about his dream and he told us what the pages were feeling..."  
  
Owen and Esmond rode up next to them as Merric nodded, "How could I forget?"  
  
Esmond looked behind them at the boys who were casting doubtful glares at the older knights, "I suppose they don't feel to friendly towards us right about now..."  
  
Kel grimaced and held back Peachblossom so that she fell in line with the pages, "Are you all okay?"  
  
Devic spoke up, "Ya...I guess so...do you think that Tom is alright?"  
  
Kel smiled reassuringly, "I'm sure that where ever he is right now that he is doing just fine..."  
  
***Tom's View***  
  
He staggered in front of his horse, almost collapsing on several occasions because he tripped over a rock or a tree root. They had traveled nearly four miles now and there was no sign of any way to get across. Even if they found one it would take forever to find the Scanran's trail again, especially for Tom who had never tracked anything in his life before.  
  
He was just about to give up and wait for the knights to catch up with him when he again noticed something out of the ordinary. It was a small overhanging cliff that stretched about halfway over the river. Actually, it looked more like an ancient stone bridge and half of it, the half that was connected to the Scanran's side of the river, had been destroyed. He carefully led his horse over to it and peered over the top of the ruins.  
  
He sighed then straightened his shoulders determinedly, and gingerly placed his left foot on the bridge. When nothing happened, he slowly leaned his weight onto his left foot and placed his right out in front. Still nothing happened. He grinned, satisfied that the bridge would hold his weight, and stepped off again. He mounted his horse and urged it forward. The mare was hesitant, so Tom lightly kicked its sides. He needed to get the horse going fast enough so they could jump the space. He needed to get the horse going fast enough so that they could make the jump. The mare picked up its pace from a trot to a gallop and they thundered onto the bridge. Just as the horse was about to launch itself off the edge of the stone, Tom heard a strange rumbling. Suddenly, the stone gave away and sent both horse and rider tumbling into the icy-cold water.  
  
Tom hung onto the horse for dear life as it kicked and tried to swim towards the shore. After what seemed like half an hour, they both finally made it and collapsed on the bank at the same time. Tom began to cough violently, trying to empty his lungs of all the water he had inhaled, then turned over at lay on his back, exhausted from the trip and he stayed like that for the next hour before finally getting up and walking back up the river to try and find where Phi and Alex had gone.  
  
***Phi and Alex's View***  
  
The group made it across the river without any trouble and the two captives were once again tied to the back of a horse, only luckily this time they were sitting close enough to each other that they could actually talk.  
  
Phi glanced over at Alex and grinned, "Is it just me, or do you feel strangely like a piece of unwanted luggage?"  
  
"Oh no, it definitely not just you...although I think we are more like bags of trash to them..."  
  
Phi laughed dryly and the man who was on her horse looked back at her strangely and elbowed her in the back. Phi scowled back at him and Alex would have probably tackled the man if his torso had not been roped down to the horse's saddle.  
  
Phi turned back to him and whispered, "...maybe we should use English..."  
  
Alex grinned then said, in English, a little loudly for Phi's liking, "Why ever should we speak in English? Is it so that these idiots can't understand what we're saying? I doubt that they could understand us even if we were speaking in Tortallian, since they don't seem to know how to say any words that contain more than two syllables!"  
  
Phi glared at him warningly, afraid that one of the soldiers might catch his drift and skewer him with one of their long and very sharp spears. This time it was his turn to grin, although he spoke a lot more softly this time, "It sound weird, speaking English again..."  
  
Phi nodded, "It sounds odd to listen to it too..."  
  
They were silent for a few moments before Alex looked seriously at Phi, "I just wanted to tell you..." his voice drifted off at the curious look Phi gave him, "...that I'm sorry I couldn't help you more back at the camp..."  
  
She smiled reassuringly, "You did everything you could, besides, I can take care of myself..." she looked back at the rider she was sharing a horse with, "Well, usually anyway..."  
  
Alex glanced down and they continued to talk about all the things they missed from their old world, Alex mentioning TV, pizza, the internet, while Phi reminisced about video games, good food, and their families.  
  
***Knight's View***  
  
Raoul shouted for the company to stop when they reached the river and everybody dismounted, glad to be giving their horses, and their bottoms, a rest. A member of the King's Own walked over to the old fireplace and noticed that some newer ashes had been dug up by someone not to long ago, he would say, about two hours ago, while another knight noticed a pair of horse tracks leading off down river while a drag mark led down into the water.  
  
Raoul went over to Alanna and together they planned their next move, while everyone else had to content themselves with striking up anxious conversations and getting drinks of water for themselves and their horses.  
  
Finally, after what seemed like hours (really only about fifteen minutes) Raoul mounted up and announced that they had decided that the King's Own would follow the drag mark, most likely made by the Scanran raiding party, and head across the river while the knights from the Palace and the pages would follow the hoof prints, which would probably led to Tom.  
  
Kel bid farewell to Dom and Raoul as they headed up stream (the opposite way to where Tom had chosen to go just a few hours before...) to where they knew there was a small bridge across the water. Then, led by the Lioness, the small group of knights and boys headed down river, following the quickened trail left behind by their friend.  
  
A/N: All right! Another chapter finished!! Please, if you read this, review! 


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: It's once again time for me to write another chapter...I hope I did all my homework...oh well...  
  
***Phi and Alex's View***  
  
After two days of hard riding, the Scanran troops finally slowed to a gentle trot. Phi sighed happily at the break because the jolts that were hitting her when the horses were galloping were beginning to make her feel sick. Of course, it didn't help that the only thing she and Alex had eaten in the past three days was six bowls of mushy stuff that looked somewhat like old oatmeal.  
  
She struggled to turn around in her seat to see what was going on, but immediately wished that she wasn't so darn curious. On the horizon, she could just make out a very large, old looking stone castle-fortress thingy. Whatever it was, it didn't look friendly and she decided that she would have rather been stranded in the forest than go to the ruins.  
  
She began to wiggle around in her seat, trying to loosen the rope, but with every move it only seemed to wrap more tightly around her. Phi finally stopped trying after her circulation was momentarily cut off and settled down into a wary alertness. Alex managed to catch a glimpse of their destination too, and had watched as Phi tried to escape. He knew she wouldn't be able to do anything though, mainly because it was the first thing he had tried to do when they were lashed onto the horses.  
  
The group reached the building when the sun was just about to set, so there was evil shadows being cast across the stonework and the sun was an eerie red. By then, both teens had decided that it was definitely a fortress of some sort, due to the large wrought-iron gate that they passed through to get into the complex, the eight foot deep, twenty feet high double walls that surrounded it, and about thirty more Scanran riders that were hanging out lazily in the entry way.  
  
They nodded as the warriors who had captured the two rode by, but Phi and Alex weren't let off the horses until they had rode around to the side of the building and there, the two were blindfolded.  
  
Phi stumbled off of the saddle and felt around where she had seen Alex dismount until she caught hold of his hand. He squeezed hers reassuringly as the guards herded them into the small, dark passageway that led deep into the bowls of the castle.  
  
***Tom's View***  
  
Finally. He had found the Scanran's marks again. He was about to follow them when he heard voices coming down the path that ran along the river. He jumped off his horse and quickly led it behind a small grove of trees and waited silently for the people to pass. As they grew closer, he was able to catch snatches of their conversation.  
  
"...do you'll think we'll find..."  
  
"I have no idea....it depends on how hard he was riding..."  
  
Tom paused. One of their voices sounded familiar and he listened harder with a greater interest.  
  
"...come on men! Let's get going! We have a lot of ground to cover before the sun sets!"  
  
Tom looked up at the sky and realized that the sun would be going down in about an hour. And he definitely recognized the voice he had just heard. The horses the people were riding picked up their pace and as they thundered by, he was just barely able to make out Lord Raoul up in front, followed closely by the King's Own.  
  
He ran back out into the road after they had passed and gave a shrill whistle. The entire group slowed to a halt almost immediately and turned back around. Raoul pulled back in front of the group and jumped off his horse when he got closer to Tom, "Thank the gods you're alive! We weren't expecting to find you on this path!"  
  
Tom grinned dryly and turned to face Dom, who had just ridden up. The knight looked down at him, "You made us all worry back at camp, running off like that...and why, in Mithros's name, are you so wet?"  
  
The teen looked down at his clothes and found that his shirt and breeches were stuck to his skin and still dripping. He smiled tiredly up at his friend, "It's a long story..."  
  
Raoul interrupted before Tom could get started, "...And I'm sure we  
would all love to hear it, but at the moment, we have some missing people to find. Tom, you're coming with us until we find your sister and Alex, or until we run back into Alanna...whichever comes first."  
  
The boy nodded gratefully and hopped (actually, he struggled) onto his horse and together the group rode down the trail left by the enemy, away from the river.  
  
A/N: Sorry that was so short, but I just realized that I have a project for English that I should probably be doing!! Darn it...Oh, I got an interesting question in one of the reviews, asking why Phi and Alex could speak English...they never really forgot how, they just never had needed to before the last chapter. The spell that Numair cast on them in the very beginning just taught them Tortallian, but it didn't take away any other language that they knew. 


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: Whew...Finally a break from homework...Ok, back to business...let's see, where did I leave off? Oh yes...  
  
***Phi and Alex's View***  
  
When a man ripped the two teen's blindfolds off, the first thing Alex noticed was that they were in a dark, cold, and damp room that looked like those dungeons from the old black and white Dracula movies. The man that had "escorted" them there was large, heavy set, and looked to be in his mid- thirties, early forties, and had a very unpleasant stench around him. Like everyone else, he was wearing heavy furs and robe things, with a thick leather belt around his large middle, and happened to be carrying a dangerous looking sword. Alex pulled Phi closer to himself and stepped away from the man as the Scanran smirked and slammed a heavy metal bar across the door. The boy examined their surroundings after making sure that Phi was alright.  
  
Like he had thought at first, they were in some kind of dungeon. It had two sleeping mats that looked about as thin as paper in the corner, and a small window in the upper right hand side of their cell. It wasn't very big, about the size of his parent's walk-in closet back home.  
  
Phi went up to the bars and peered out. Their cell was just one of many that were lining a small corridor lit by lanterns hanging from the ceiling. The man that had brought them there was pacing back and forth down the hallway, and she decided that he must be their guard. Although why they would ever need a guard was beyond her. She shivered. She hadn't liked the look he had given her when he took off her blindfold. It was one of those you're-going-to-die-and-I-can't-do-anything-about-it looks. She tried to see if any of the other cells were occupied, and the only figure she could make out was one at the very end of the hallway. He, she thought it was a he, was huddled in the corner of his room, looking to be about sixty years old.  
  
She grimaced and turned away, back into her own cell and sat down next to Alex. He was resting his head against the far stonewall and had his eyes closed, his legs pulled up to his chest and his arms resting on top of them, as if he were thinking. She sighed and prodded him a little until he snapped out of it.  
  
He opened his eyes and rested his head on his arms, "Ya?"  
  
"I just wanted to make sure you were alright..."  
  
He grinned dryly and put his head back up against the wall and closed his eyes again, "Sure I am, if you consider being locked up in a place where you don't speak the language and they probably never heard of the idea that murder is bad, then ya, I'm just dandy..."  
  
She sighed again and rested her head on his shoulder. He flinched, surprised, but as he listened to her breathing become rhythmic and settled and decided that she must be asleep, he gently rested his head on hers and drifted off into an unconscious exhaustion.  
  
In the morning their guard rudely awaked them. He banged against the metal bars, causing Alex and Phi to leap to their feet in half-awake confusion. "Here..." He said in a heavily accented Tortallian, "...breakfast..." Phi reluctantly took it and she only did so in the first place because she was starving. She looked curiously into the wooden bowls that he handed her, then reeled back in disgust. It looked even worse than that crap the raiding party had fed them, and it smelled about two times worse too. She handed Alex a bowl who, with one look at her face, quickly caught on that breakfast was not going to be pleasant. She flopped down onto her bed mat and cautiously took a bite.  
  
Alex watched as she through the bowl away and slapped her hand over her mouth to keep the unknown substance down. "Ugh...that was the worst thing...I have ever tasted...ever!" She wiped her mouth off on her sleeve as Alex grinned and carefully set his own bowl down in the corner of the room. He would trust her judgment on this one. Their guard came back over to see what they were making such a big fuss about and he laughed, "You had better be getting used to breakfast, you will be having it every day, for breakfast and for dinner!" Phi glared at him and stubbornly pushed the bowl farther away from her. "Fine. Starve yourself for all I care. The chief will be dealing with you soon anyway. I would be recommending that you eat all you can get your hands on. It could possibly be last meal you will be eating..."  
  
Phi looked at him, "Thanks but I'd rather starve to death then eat this crap."  
  
The man shrugged his shoulders and went to sit back down in a chair that was down at the far end of the corridor. Alex smiled and sat down next to her, "You know, it probably isn't the best thing for you to be disagreeing with him. If you haven't noticed, he's the one with the weapon..."  
  
"You try our 'breakfast' then. Go ahead!"  
  
"Fine! It can't be that bad..." She grinned doubtfully as he hesitantly picked up his bowl from the corner of the room. He smelled it, quickly recoiled, then held his nose with one hand and picked up a little of the stuff with his other hand and spooned a little bit into his mouth. Phi smiled knowingly as he spit it out all over the wall that was opposite their beds and began to wipe off his tongue, "God! That stuff is awful! It tasted like fermented dog food or something...oh god that was disgusting! Why did you let me do that? Oh man......god..."  
  
She laughed, "You've eaten fermented dog food before?"  
  
"No but I smelled it, and this stuff's stench is only a little bit better than that, but I imagined that it tasted about the same..."  
  
"Now you know what I meant when I said I would rather starve..."  
  
"And I would have to say that I might agree with you..."  
  
***Tom's View***  
  
His horse was having some trouble keeping up with the battle-hardened stallions of the King's Own. Tom kept urging it faster and nudging it in the sides to keep it from falling behind. Right now was one of those I'm- falling-behind-and-am-going-to-get-lost moments and he was struggling to keep the Tortallians in sight. Of course, it wasn't just the horse's fault that they were falling behind...he was having some troubles himself with riding for seven hours straight.  
  
After he had met up with the group and they had allowed him to follow, they had ridden for about two hours then set up camp for the night. In the morning, after having repacked camp, one of the knights found the Scanran's trail again and since then they had been ridding all day. It was in the middle of the afternoon, and he was tired. He was also getting upset. What if something had happened to Phi and Alex by now? They were about an entire day's ridding ahead of them. Anything could have happened. But wouldn't he have had another vision if something had happened? Then again, it wasn't exactly like he could control his magic or his "Gift" either; it just seemed to pop up now and then. Although his dreams were becoming more realistic and vivid, he still couldn't remember any of them in the morning.  
  
Dom held his horse back a little and waited patiently for Tom, "So, what are you thinking about?"  
  
"What?"  
  
Dom smiled, "It looked like you were thinking about something important. Your forehead got all furrowed and you nearly were knocked off your saddle by that low hanging branch you barely made it under..."  
  
"What branch?"  
  
"Exactly..."  
  
Tom sighed, "I was just hoping that...we weren't too late."  
  
Dom's smile disappeared, "You're worried about your sister and Alex aren't you...You and I both know that they can take care of themselves well enough, they are probably fine..."  
  
"My sister's only fifteen! And Alex is my age, seventeen! They are both way too young to be in a situation like this! I'm too young!"  
  
"Your sister may be fifteen and Alex may only be seventeen, but if I learned anything from being around you three from the short while that I was, it is that both Phi and Alex can throw a punch just as well as any twenty-five year old man."  
  
Tom grinned, remembering the tavern incident, then nodded his head, "Your right. Of course you are right. Still, I think they are a little over their heads in this one...Thanks."  
  
Dom nodded, "It was no problem. You might be right, but then again, if they are, we're only half a day behind them in case anything happens. Oh, you might want to keep up a little better with the Own, we are starting to lose sight of you up there." He urgded his horse forward and rode back up with the rest of the group.  
  
A/N: There! That was a little longer than last time. If you are confused about Phi and Alex, don't worry, keep up best you can, and everything will everything will eventually explain itself... 


	25. Chapter 25

***Phi and Alex's View***  
  
Towards the end of the second day, they finally got some explanation of what the heck was going on. It had just begun to rain when their guard came to get them about four hours after their breakfast came. "Okay, the chief will be seeing you now..." He took out a large iron wrought key and sung the bars of their cell open. Alex looked at Phi, who returned his suspicious look with a curious one, and they both stood up and walked out of their room. Phi turned to the guard, "What are we here for?"  
  
"I cannot tell you."  
  
Phi stared at him, "Why not?!"  
  
"Because, I myself do not know. No one does except Commander Dausael."  
  
"Who?"  
  
The guard smirked, "You will soon be finding out..."  
  
Phi turned to Alex and raised her eyebrows. Alex gave her a faint reassuring smile and the guard herded the forward, out of the dimly lit corridor, through a heavy wooden door that had a large metal pad-lock on it, out into a small courtyard. Phi looked up and guessed from where the sun was that it was around eleven in the morning. The courtyard was very sparse, contained no grass or plants, only a large open area covered in tightly packed dirt, with about three soldiers loitering around. The guard hurried them into a room that was opposite the dungeons. As he opened the door and guided the two in with the tip of his drawn sword, Alex could see several rugs hanging up on the wall as decoration. They were full of geometric designs and were done mostly in red, blue, and black. A shiver ran down his spine as he thought that the red coloring looked an awful lot like blood...  
  
They entered a huge room with vaulted ceilings held up by two rows of solid stone pillars that ran along the side of the room and ended at the far side. The entire thing looked like it had been carved out of a single stone, and the only light was coming from six small open windows at the top of the wall. A long red carpet was rolled from the main door that the three had entered from, all the way to the other side of the room...and it ended right at the feet of a gigantic stone throne that was inlayed with rubies, gold, and sapphires. And on the throne was the thing that caught Phi and Alex's eyes first. It was a large, muscular man with thick brown hair and beard, in full battle armor. He looked to be about fifty years old, and at his side was a large broad sword.  
  
He stood up and their guard bowed. Phi and Alex remained standing. The man walked down the carpet to where they were, "Are these the children that I asked you to get for me?"  
  
Phi bristled at the word children, but stayed silent. The guard looked up from his kneeling position, "Yes, Commander Dausael."  
  
"But there are only two of them...didn't I tell you to get three of them?"  
  
"Yes my lord, but the riders could only find these two..."  
  
"Really?" Dausael pulled the guard to his feet, "Go and find the captain of the riders..." Phi shivered at his voice, and knew that something bad was happening. The guard leapt to his feet and ran out of the room to do as he was told.  
  
Dausael turned back to the teens and began to pace in front of them, his cape dragging along behind him as he circled the two, "So, you are the two who are from another dimension..." He spoke, unlike the other Scanrans they had met, with a perfect Tortallian accent, throwing Phi and Alex slightly off.  
  
Finally, Alex looked the commander right in the eyes...mistake..., "What do you want with us?"  
  
"Want? I want nothing more than to ask you about what it is like in your world...how has technology advanced...what kind of weapons you know about..."  
  
Alex looked surprised, "What? How did you know that we..."  
  
"That you are not from this dimension? Why, my spy told me! And he also told me that you have information that could let the Scanrans defeat the Tortallians once and for all, something that would destroy every last one of them..."  
  
Phi let out a forced laugh, "Even if we knew anything, do you really think we'd tell you? A whole army of Tortallian knights is looking for us right now, (A/N: No, Phi didn't know about the Own or Alanna's group of knights from the palace, although she is correct, she doesn't know it...yet...) and when they find us, they'll kick your ass so hard..."  
  
She didn't get to finish her threat, because Dausael burst out laughing, "What do you think will happen, that they will come charging in here, rescue you, and you'll all live long, happy lives? Ha! Let them come, I am ready..." He picked up his sword and it erupted into red flames of the Gift. Alex paled and Phi's eyes grew wide, "They have yet to defeat Dausael and his strength of a hundred mages...if they come, they will face a fate worse than anything the gods could ever threaten."  
  
The guard came bursting in the door with a very nervous looking man trailing behind him, "My lord, the captain of the riders..." He bowed, and pulled Phi and Alex over to the side to stand next to the first column.  
  
The rider began to tremble as Dausael walked up to him and said, "So...I have heard that you have only brought me two of the travelers instead of three..."  
  
"The last one...he wasn't with them..."  
  
"Don't give me excuses! Where is he!"  
  
"We...we don't know my lord..."  
  
Dausael sighed, "I had faith in you captain, but it seems my faith was misplaced..."  
  
This seemed like some sort of code phrase because the captain fell to his knees in front of the commander and tears welled up in his eyes. Their guard grabbed onto the collar of Phi and Alex's shirts and dragged them outside as Dausael slowly raise his sword. The guard threw them into the hallway and ran to slam the throne room doors just as Dausael brought his blade down. They heard a scream from inside the room and Phi clutched Alex's arm and buried her face in his chest. He grabbed onto her tightly and looked away as a thin trickle of blood ran underneath the doorframe into the hallway.  
  
The guard looked at him halfway apologetically and led them back to their cell. When they got there, Phi was still latched onto Alex and he fell down onto a bed mat and tried to calm her down. But he failed miserably, mostly because he himself could still feel his heart beating abnormally fast in his chest. He leaned his head onto hers and rocked her slightly as a thought popped into his mind, 'Now I know why the carpet is red...'  
  
***Tom's View***  
  
He screamed silently to himself in frustration. The Own had lost the trail just as the trees were beginning to thin out. Raoul tried to calmly explain to the upset teen that it was because a recent rain had washed the tracks away. The knight had to call for them to set up camp because the sun was beginning to set and sent a few members of the Own how were skilled in tracking to go and find where the rest of the tracks were leading. It wasn't until early the next morning, around seven, that they heard the sound of approaching hooves. The knights and Tom rested their hands on the hilts of their swords, but quickly removed them when they recognized the Lioness ridding up front.  
  
Kel, Esmond, and Merric rode into view next, followed closely by the pages. The three knights dismounted and walked quickly over to Tom, a relieved look on their faces, "We finally found you only to learn that the Own had found you first! What happened to you out there?"  
  
Tom grinned and was about to reply when Devic dismounted, "And how did you get across the river?"  
  
Alanna walked over to Raoul who smiled pleasantly at her and handed her a bowl of oatmeal, "I would like to know the same thing...Your tracks led to a bit of stone sticking out about a foot over the river, then they disappeared!"  
  
Tom looked at the knight, "Only a foot of it is left? When I got on it, that bridge must have been at least fifteen feet..."  
  
Devic stopped short, "Bridge? Did you mean that pile of rubble was a bridge? What happened to it?"  
  
"Well, when I walked my horse and I onto it, it kind of fell apart..."  
  
Alanna looked concerned, "You mean you fell into the water? Are you okay?"  
  
"Huh? Oh ya, I'm fine."  
  
Dom grinned, "So that is why you were so wet when we found you..."  
  
"Yep..."  
  
Just then, one of the Own who had been searching for a trail came bursting through the foliage, "I found some tracks! They're headed north, out of the woods!"  
  
Raoul stood up, "All right! Time to pack up!". The camp was cleaned in about five minutes and everyone jumped back onto their horses, "Let's go!"  
  
A/N: I hope you all liked the chapter all right. Um, I was feeling a tad morbid when I wrote this, but ya...oh well, if you don't like it, you don't have to read it, and if you did like it, please review!! 


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! Sorry it took so long for me to update, my internet connection was all screwed up...Oh, last time I forgot to mention this but thank you SydneyCider for coming up with the name Dausael for me...you can see why I needed it...  
  
***Tom's View***  
  
Finally the group was ready to go. Raoul led the group down the path that one of the One had indicated, and soon the Scanran's tracks became clearer. As they continued to follow the trail, the trees of the forest began to thin out and eventually they disappeared all together. As the knights rode over a large hill, Raoul called the group to a halt.  
  
On the top of the next knoll was a large fortress, complete with huge stonewalls and guard towers. Alanna rode up besides Raoul and looked at him, "What do you think we should do now...I've never pulled off a rescue mission before."  
  
He looked at her hesitantly, "Well frankly...neither have I. Not one on this scale at least. We need to get to people out of that castle without being caught."  
  
"Or," interrupted the Lioness, "we could just ride in and take the building by force...What! Don't look at me like that Raoul! There can't be that many Scanrans stationed at this post, especially if we had no knowledge of its existence until about fifteen minutes ago!"  
  
Dom rode up behind the leader of the King's Own, "She's probably right you know..." Raoul turned and stared at him, "...um...sorry."  
  
The older knight sighed and dismounted reluctantly from his horse, "As much as it pains me to say it...we need some kind of plan..."  
  
Dom shrugged and rode back to Kel, Esmond, Merric, Owen, and Tom, "I tried to hurry things along..."  
  
Tom looked really worried but stayed silent as everyone dismounted. He climbed down off his own horse and found a tree to rest up against. He sighed and slowly sat down, his gaze fixed on the fortress. He was so close...so close to Phi and Alex, but yet so very far. He was slowly overtaken by sleep as he listened to the sound of the knights trying to decide what to do, but he never had the chance to rest.  
  
As soon as he closed his eyes, another vision came. It wasn't as real as the first one was, not by a long shot, and it seemed dimmer and somehow fuzzier even though he could hear what was going on as if he was standing in the room. He saw a man sitting on a throne holding a large blazing sword that was soaked in something red that seemed to be glowing. The view switched and suddenly Tom's thoughts were being pulled backwards, out of the room with the man in it, down a hall, through some kind of outdoor courtyard, and into a long dark corridor that seemed to be some sort of dungeon. His thoughts slowed again and seemed to move in slow motion as he passed a cell with an old man sitting in it, and moved down to the end of the hall. In the very last room, was Phi and Alex!  
  
His thought were about to enter their cell, when he felt a tugging at the back of his mind, telling him to come back to reality. He somehow pulled his mind back into his body, which was a very odd sensation, and his real eyes whipped open. He stared around trying to find what had "woken him up". Finally, his eyes turned towards the fortress and he saw a shadow on the ground right above him, heading in that direction. The tugging grew stronger and it seemed that time slowed down and a dark mist was hovering overhead where the shadow was.  
  
Devic, Duke Baird, and Alanna seemed to notice something too, and almost simultamiously, all four looked up to the sky. Alanna called out, "STORMWING! RAOUL! WE'RE BEING SPYIED ON!!"  
  
All the knight and pages drew their weapons as the thing above them flew by cackling. Devic walked over to Tom, his eyes glued on it, "Tom! That is an immortal that is often seen working with the Scanrans! This is bad..."  
  
Tom looked at the boy, "How bad..."  
  
"Now the enemy knows we're here. They'll be able to make the first move, which was our only real advantage."  
  
The Californian grimaced as the immortal swooped overhead once more before soaring over to the fortress and flying into a high window of the biggest building.  
  
Raoul and Alanna turned to each other, seeming to pass a silent message between each other. Raoul walked quickly over to his horse, "All right. Since they know we're coming there is no point in staging a sneak attack. We'll ride out to battle now, there is no point waiting any longer." He mounted and everyone ran to their horses to follow him.  
  
Merric rode his horse over to Tom's as the boy mounted up, "Don't worry, we'll get Phi and Alex back..."  
  
Tom smiled gratefully but as they rode towards the looming building, he had a sense that things weren't going to go as well as they all planned.  
  
***Phi and Alex's View***  
  
Alex slowly rose into a sitting position and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. As his vision came back into focus, he recognized Phi sleeping on the bedroll on the opposite side of the room. He muttered sleepily and tried to figure out what Phi was doing in his bedroom without Tom when he realized what had happened. He was not in his bedroom. He and Phi had been captured without Tom and there was an insane murderer in charge of their fate.  
  
He looked around trying to find what had woken him up, and finally he found the source. It was that blasted guard who was presently hovering over them through the bars, "Ah...I was just about to wake you up. Dausael be wanting to see you now..."  
  
Alex's gaze hardened, "What does he want..."  
  
"I'm not sure, but I don't believe he wants to kill you yet if that's what you mean...he looked suspiciously in a good mood when he called me in...lucky for you two..."  
  
Alex moved over to Phi and shook her awake, being sure to avoid her arm as it shot out to hit whoever was disturbing her, "Leave me alone Tom...just a few more...minutes..."  
  
He sighed and grabbed her by the arms and hauled her to her feet, "This is Alex...Come on, get up..."  
  
She glared sleepily at him and covered her mouth as she yawned, "Why?"  
  
"The bloodthirsty chief wants to see us again..."  
  
She scowled but straightened her shirt and followed Alex out the room as the guard unlocked the door and led them back into Dausael's chamber. The commander stood as the doors opened and immediately Phi and Alex were hit with the stench of rotting flesh. Phi quickly used her sleeve to cover her mouth, and Alex who was wearing short sleeves tried his best to hold his breath. Dausael walked forward, "Good morning. I just wanted to inform you that the Tortallians are about three hundred feet away preparing for a 'rescue'."  
  
Phi turned to Alex who looked at the Scanran, "Why should we believe you?"  
  
He shrugged and moved aside so that they could see the creature that was perched behind him, "Because it is true. You might say that a little bird told me..." He laughed and motioned towards the animal behind him, " My Stormwing spy told me. Oh, he also mentioned that the last of the three travelers was with them."  
  
Alex was stunned, still staring at the thing that was sitting on a stone perch next to the throne. It had the body of some sort of metal bird but it had the head of a man. Except that the man has extremely grotesque. He had small beady eyes, pale, tight pulled skin, and two rows of razor sharp teeth.  
  
Phi whispered, "Tom's here?"  
  
Dausael looked at her, "Oh, is that his name? Well yes, I suppose he is. And when the Tortallians come, which they inevitably will, because it is in their 'honorable' nature, I will have the third one of you plus a few slaves for the king. He will be very pleased indeed..."  
  
Suddenly Phi snapped (as was in her nature to do so...) and lunged at Dausael, taking them all by surprise. She moved fast, but not quickly enough because their guard caught her when she was an inch away from the commander. He looked surprised, then his eyes grew clouded with anger. Phi struggled with the guard, and Alex ran to help her but was caught by another soldier who was standing watch by the door. Dausael looked straight into Phi's eyes and she stared defiantly back.  
  
Suddenly, he brought his hand up and hit her across the face so hard that she was propelled out of the guard's hands onto the floor. Alex cried out and wrestled from his capture and leapt over to where Phi was slowly getting back up. she had a bruise that was beginning to develop on her left cheekbone and Alex had to wrap her arm over his shoulders to keep her balanced.  
  
Dausael glared at them both then waved his hand, "Take them away, put them in separate cells, and let them wait for their friends, who will never arrive, in solitude."  
  
Their guard bowed stiffly and led the two back to the dungeons again, not separating them until they reached the end of the corridor. He put Alex in their old cell and Phi in the room across the hall from it.  
  
As soon as he had locked the bars Alex ran over to them and peered at Phi, "Hey...are you okay?"  
  
She sat down by the opening and grinned at him, "Ya, I guess so..."  
  
"You took a pretty hard hit back there..."  
  
"It wasn't that bad..." Her grin grew wider, "Besides... Dausael hits like a girl..."  
  
Alex shook his head and copied her by sitting right at the edge of the bars. Their guard wandered back over to them and looked warily at Phi, "You are the first person who I have ever seen that has hit Dausael and survived to talk about it..."  
  
She shrugged, "I guess he still needs us for something..."  
  
Alex leaned his head against the bars, "Ya, but I would rather not know what..."  
  
The older man shook his head, still amazed at either Phi's impulsiveness or stupidity and went back to sit in the chair at the other end of the corridor.  
  
A/N: Yes! Another semi-long chapter! Oh no! The story is nearing the climax! It's almost over! Nooooooooooooooooooo! Hmm...  
  
Anyway, please review! I got a ton for the last chapter, but I would still enjoy any supportiveness or helpful criticism (actually...I wouldn't "enjoy" that, but if you have a problem that I can change without messing up my story line, let me know!!) 


	27. Chapter 27

A/N: To make up for my slowness last time (although it was my computer's fault...), I wrote up the next chapter extra fast!  
  
***Tom's View***  
  
As they thundered over the grassy hills to the ominous castle that was just beyond the next rise, Tom couldn't help but have a bad feeling as they grew closer. The knights seemed to be tense too and everyone was silent as they approached the stone building.  
  
Raoul and Alanna drew their weapons and the other knights followed their lead. The pages were in back of the older Tortallians but somehow seemed just as ready for the attack. When they were about a hundred feet away from the gate of the fortress it creaked open and about a dozen Scanran riders came pouring out.  
  
Kel, Merric, Owen, and Esmond charged forward with the rest of the war veterans and clashed swords with the warriors. The blows ran out as metal clanged against metal and Peachblossom, who Kel was riding, reared up several times and took two riders out that way. A huge cloud of dust billowed up around the fighting and Tom couldn't see two feet in front of him. He tried to turn his horse around and led it out of the dust, but a rider cut off his escape route. The teen had just enough time to unsheathe his sword and hold it in front of his face before the rider's blows came raining down on him.  
  
Devic heard Tom cry out and raced over to help him. The page rode up from behind the Scanran and while the warrior was busy trying to knock down Tom's defenses, slashed him in the side with his sword. The man cried out and grabbed his side with one hand, but continued to fight with the other. Devic swore and quickly cut the man's sword arm. The man howled in pain, dropped his weapon and pulled his horse back. The two watched as he rode back to the fortress gate and shut the iron bars closed, then turned and watched as the dust settled behind them.  
  
Alanna came out first, covered in dirt and her sword in blood. She took off her helmet and wiped her forehead with a gloved hand, looking worriedly back to see who made it through the fight. Next came Raoul, Dom, and the members of the Own, all tired looking, followed closely by Kel, Merric, Esmond, and Owen.  
  
The Lioness sighed in relief as she did a head count and found that everyone was still alive. Of course, some were wounded, but Duke Baird was already beginning to tend to their wounds and scratches.  
  
Tom turned to Devic, "Thanks a lot..."  
  
The boy grinned wearily, "No problem, but I am starting to think that you should have come down with Phi and Alex to train with us..."  
  
"If I had known that I would have to fight, I probably would've!"  
  
After a short rest about five minutes that felt like five hours, Raoul called for the group to saddle up again and led the party up to the gate of their enemy.  
  
When they got there, Alanna jumped off her horse and walked straight up to the gate, examining it and trying to find a way past. Raoul dismounted and went to stand next to her. He shook the iron bars to test their strength but they didn't even creak, "So...how do we get in?"  
  
Alanna tapped the bars with her fingers then walked over to the stone wall. She stared up at the top of it, kicked the stones to see if they would move, then walked back over to Raoul who was waiting impatiently for a reply, "I don't know..."  
  
The knight sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand, "Does anyone have any suggestions?"  
  
***Phi and Alex's View***  
  
After about an hour of sitting in their cells, Phi and Alex both heard a strange sound from outside the building, coming from another part of the fortress, like from the front gate. They looked at each other and Phi grinned, "I'll bet you fifty bucks that that is Tom."  
  
"You're probably right, no one else would make that much noise."  
  
They strained their ears to try and catch anymore unusual sounds, but it seemed that they had faded away for now. Their guard looked extremely tense and began to get upset at the slightest movement from his prisoners and jumped nearly three feet in the air when the back door closest to Phi and Alex's cells was slammed open and a man limped through. He was bleeding all over the place and the two just stared as he shuffled by and stopped a foot away from the guard, "The Tortallians have already defeated our defenses, everyone except myself as slain on the battle field."  
  
"Impossible!" thundered the guard, "How could one boy defeat us so easily?!"  
  
"It wasn't just one boy sir...it was about a dozen veteran knights and two dozen pages plus the boy."  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
Phi piped up, "Isn't that what Dausael said earlier this morning?..."  
  
The guard rounded on her, "Shut up! I know very well what the commander told me! Keep quiet or I shall cut your throat right now!"  
  
She paled about a shade lighter then glared at the man's back after he turned around to talk to the wounded rider, "Go tell Dausael what happened and I'll think of something to do..."  
  
"What? Why do I have to tell him? He'll...he'll kill me!"  
  
"And I'll be killing you if you don't so get going!"  
  
The rider gave the guard a deathly glare and rage flared up in his eyes, but he saluted and stumbled out of the dungeons. Meanwhile, the guard was still panicking, "You two!" he pointed at Phi and Alex, "stand up! You're coming to the front cells so I can be keeping an eye on you!"  
  
He threw open their bar doors and hauled them into the front cell, throwing them both in and double locking the door, "There, that is better." He sat down in his chair, picked up a crossbow and stared at the opposite door that led to the outside of the building, just waiting for some unfortunate to come through so he could shoot their head off.  
  
Alex walked over to Phi, glad that he could sit right next to her instead of sitting five feet away, "What do you think is going on out there?"  
  
She shrugged and watched the guard as he drummed his fingers nervously on his cross bow and shivered, "I just hope that Tom isn't the first one in here."  
  
Alex frowned and put his arms around her comfortingly, "I'm sure he won't...He better not be..."  
  
***Meanwhilist...***  
  
The rider who Devic had carved up was nervously pacing in front of Dausael's chamber. How was he to tell their lord that they had all failed without getting his head chopped off like the previous leader of the warriors? A thought hit him and he cautiously entered the room, "Sir?...um...I...I have some...some news to report..."  
  
The commander was sitting in his chair with his chin resting on his hands, as if he were in deep thought, "You have failed?"  
  
"No! Well, the Tortallians, they surprised us and..." Oh no...he was forgetting what he was going to say. His heartbeat began to pulse faster as he continued to stammer, "They...are better figh-fighters th-then we anticipated...sir..."  
  
"I'll tell you what...I will give you one more chance to prove yourself..." The rider almost fainted with relief but kept himself up by using his sword as a cane, "All you have to do is get rid of our other two prisoners..."  
  
"What?! Why?...um...sir..."  
  
"It is not your place to ask why, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt anything to tell you...because they are no use to me, that is why. They know nothing about the weapons from their time. I could see it in their eyes. Kill them however you want, I do not care. It is the third one that I need to get now..."  
  
The rider bowed and limped back out of the throne room, ecstatic that he was still able to do so, but turned around as Dausael called out just as the wooden doors began to close, "But fail me again, and you know what fate awaits you..." The man gulped and saluted again before walking as fast as he could manage away from his chief afraid that he would kill him while his back was turned...you could never be too careful.  
  
As he walked back through the courtyard to the dungeons, he began to ponder just how he was going to kill the two teens by himself. He could ask that guard for help but then he would have to share his glory...No, he would do this alone. His imagination raced over all the possibilities: poison, death by sword, hanging, starvation...it needed to be fast though, something that would leave no remains behind. He needed to do his job perfectly with no slip-ups...hmm...his eyes fell on three barrels of oil for the lamps and a grin played on his face.  
  
Being burned to death...that could work nicely. And Dausael had said that he could do whatever he wanted as long as he got the job done. This way, he might be able to take out that guard who had insulted him too. He laughed to himself, lifted the three barrels up, and carried them to the outside of the dungeon.  
  
He walked to the far side of the building where he knew the guard and the two travelers weren't and began to dump the oil into the little holes in the wall that served as windows in the cells.  
  
***Tom's View***  
  
After all the knights had taken a swing at the bars with their swords and Tom had tried to use his unruly magic to open the bars (which ended in him being blown back about ten feet and landing on his back) some of the knights were about ready to give up. Kel threw her helmet down in frustration and sat down hard next to Esmond, Merric, and Owen. Merric was cradling his foot because he had lost his temper and had kicked the bars...it didn't work too well. Kel watched as Dom talked to Raoul about something or another then came to sit by them too, "Well this is exciting, isn't it?"  
  
She glared at him and watched as Tom approached the gate again, followed by Devic who wanted to make sure that his older friend didn't kill himself trying to open the gate.  
  
Tom looked at the bars in disgust, then at Devic. The boy looked up at him and shrugged, not knowing how to open the gate either. Tom's expression grew thoughtful as he looked back at the gate, then back at Devic, then back at the gate again. He turned back to his friend, "Hey Devic, can you fit through the gate?"  
  
"What? Oh, I don't know...do you think I'm...skinny enough?"  
  
Tom grinned, "Well I think you might be the smallest one here anyway..."  
  
Devic stared at him strangely, not sure if he had just be insulted or complimented, shrugged his shoulders and put his foot through the gate.  
  
Kel sat up straight and poked Dom and Owen in the side who in turn poked Esmond and Merric and five watched as Devic put his knee through the iron bars, then his waist, his chest, and finally his head. The page grinned at Tom as he finished pulling his entire body on the other side of the gate who gave him a thumbs up. The boy jogged over to the side of the wall and cranked up the wheel that controlled the bars. Alanna and Raoul watched in amazement along with the rest of the group as it slowly groaned and grinded upwards and they all rushed through into the compound.  
  
***Phi and Alex's View***  
  
Phi raised her head from Alex's shoulder and listened. He looked at her, "What's the matter?"  
  
"I thought I heard something..."  
  
"Something like what..."  
  
"Like...running water..."  
  
The guard who was eavesdropping on their conversation, strained his ears to try and hear something and the three remained silent for a good ten minutes. Some smell began to bother Alex and he covered his nose with his shirt, "What is that smell?"  
  
Phi sniffed the air, "Smells kinda like...a gas station..."  
  
They looked at each other, and Alex looked curiously at Phi, "Oil?"  
  
She nodded and the guard stood up to investigate. He followed the sound and walked slowly down the corridor to see what was going on.  
  
***Meanwhile...***  
  
The wounded warrior laughed manically to himself as the last bit of the lamp oil was drained into the dungeons. He set the third barrel down and wiped the dripping sweat from his forehead. He took out some flint and tinder, making a tiny spark, "Good-bye..." He threw it in the window and dived down as a burst of flame erupted from the opening and engulfed the cell in burning fire.  
  
A/N: Wahahahaha!! Evil cliffhanger!!! I think I will not write for a few days... or maybe I will...yes, it depends on how many reviews I get! HAHAHAHAHAHA!! 


	28. Chapter 28

A/N: *evil glare that would burn through rock* I do not like being called an idiot...it's not nice...but I decided to write even though my attempt to get an overwhelming amount of reviews has failed...(I don't want to add to much romance because 1- Phi is only 15 yrs. old and 2-I don't want the story to revolve around that plot point, that is not the focus of this story...) Oh! Also, I wanted to excuse myself for the semi-strange plot because in the immortal words of Indiana Jones: "I am making this up as I go"  
  
***Phi and Alex's View***  
  
The guard moved back to the back of the corridor with a mix of curiosity and apprehension. Phi and Alex watched as he walked slowly back and Alex's grip around Phi's shoulders tightened. A thin black liquid ran over the guard's foot and down the hallway (which was slanted slightly from age) and began to trickle next to the heavy wooden door and into the two's cell. Phi inched forward and got a little of it on her finger and smelled it, "Hmm...we were right..."  
  
Suddenly they heard a sound from outside of the building and a suddenly eruption of light exploded from the other side of the room and they heard the guard scream out in pain and surprise as he was consumed in flames. Alex yelled out and threw himself and Phi to the farthest side of their cell where the oil had not gone yet. She held on tight to him as half of their room was engulfed in smoke and fire and they listened as the other prisoner suffered the same fate as the guard. Alex held onto her tighter as the flames grew closer and he felt the heat approaching the only place that was not part of the hell that had consumed the rest of the dungeon.  
  
***Tom's View***  
  
Tom bolted through the gate, trying desperately to align himself with the vision he had had earlier. It was the only way that he knew of to find his friend and little sister. Devic ran over and followed the teen closely on his left while Raoul sprinted over to him on his right, "Where are going?"  
  
"I had another...another thing, another vision thing! "Raoul stopped and looked at him like he was crazy. Tom blinked, "What? Don't look at me like that! Where's Kel? Kel!"  
  
The lady knight turned and jogged over to him, "What is it?"  
  
"I know where Alex and Phi are! I saw them in a...a vision! I can lead us to them!"  
  
She looked skeptical but remembered his last vision, "Alright...Raoul, it's okay, he has the Gift and right now it is the only real lead we've got."  
  
The older knight sighed and rubbed the back of his head, "Fine...People should really tell me about things like this though..."  
  
Alanna walked over and slapped him on the back, "I tried to earlier but you wouldn't pay attention to me!"  
  
Raoul looked sheepish and turned back to Tom, "Okay, lead the...where did he go?"  
  
Kel whipped around, "Gods damn him! He took off again!"  
  
Alanna grimaced and split the group up to form a search party for Tom, Phi and Alex.  
  
Tom raced around the corner of the largest building after having snuck away from the group, assuring himself that they would have only gotten in the way and slowed him down. Besides, if there was any danger, his vision would have shown him it...right? He rounded a corner and ran smack into...Devic. The boy leapt to his feet and helped Tom up who rounded, more surprised than angry, on him, "What are you doing here?!"  
  
"It was my fault that they were captured and I want to set things right."  
  
Tom looked at the boy strangely, "You're insane..."  
  
Devic grinned, "So are you..."  
  
"Good point..." He took off running again, this time with Devic following along beside him.  
  
When they finally got to the backside of the largest building and were passing next to the courtyard Tom had known would be there, the stone building on front of them erupted in flames.  
  
Tom swore and quickened his pace, throwing himself against the barred door, desperately trying to open it, "No! Phi!! Alex!"  
  
Devic caught on quick, realizing that his friends were in the building that was burning to the ground and began to join Tom banging the door down with their bodies and swords. Finally, after what seemed like hours, they heard the bolts squeak and crack and the hinges were snapped off the rock wall. The door fell down and smoke wafted out of the building in billowing black clouds. Tom launched himself into the room and called out into the fire for his friends. Devic stood just outside of the building, unsure of what to do, finally deciding to run back and get the much-needed help.  
  
***Phi and Alex's View***  
  
They were both choking on the fumes despite their efforts to breathe through cloth and stay low to the ground. Alex looked Phi and called out, "This always works in the movies!" She managed a weak grin at him as the smell of burning oil began to overwhelm her and Alex shook her, "Oh no! Stay awake! You go to sleep, you die! I've seen this in the movies too!"  
  
A breeze suddenly caught some of the blackened smoke and wafted it out through...the open door. Alex picked the half-unconscious Phi and walked as close to the iron bars of their cell as he could manage without burning himself to death, "Who's there? Please be someone here to help us..."  
  
A figure moved through the hazy smoke towards them and Alex almost fainted in relief when he saw Tom, "Thank God! Tom, it's you! You gotta get us outa here!"  
  
Tom grimaced and looked at the bars, "How?!"  
  
"I dunno! But figure something out fast okay? We've been in here too long already..."  
  
Tom's glace fell to Phi and his eyes filled with determination. He turned around and scanned the building for something, anything he could use to open the doors. There were two really big padlocks on them and he needed to open them...a thin strip of metal caught his eyes. He ran over to it and pulled it out off a burning pile of rubble. He ripped a piece of fabric off of his shirt and used it to hold the red-hot metal. He stuck it in the first padlock and began to wiggle it around. Alex looked over and coughed, "What the hell are you doing Tom? Are you picking a lock?!"  
  
"Desperate times call for desperate measures Alex..." The first lock sprung open and Tom beamed. he yanked it off and began to work on the second one. Then, the cloth slipped off the piece of metal and Tom yelled out in pain as the burning iron touched his skin. He shook his hand and tears began to well up in his eyes. He blinked them away and picked the strip up again. He fiddled around with it for a few more seconds before it finally popped open. He sighed, coughed (the fumes were beginning to him too...), and ripped the door open. Alex jumped out, stumbling a little, then righted himself and together they sprinted as fast as they could manage out of the dungeon.  
  
Alex collapsed to the ground as soon as they reached the opposite side of the courtyard, and Tom was just able to catch his sister before his friend landed on her. Phi coughed loudly and stood up shakily, feeling better now that she was out of the oil filled cell. She smiled at Tom and threw her arms around his shoulders. He grinned and hugged her, "You won't tell Mom that I left you for so long, right?"  
  
She shook her head and pulled away, "Not a chance..." Alex gasped and sat up, "Oh, by the way, it is good to see you again Tom..."  
  
Tom smiled and helped Alex back onto his feet with the hand that was not in pain, "Good to see you too..."  
  
The double doors slammed open as a final explosion ripped the roof off of the dungeon and a man emerged from the larger building, "You three! Dausael wishes to see you immediately!"  
  
Alex looked at the man, "Not on your life!"  
  
"You don't have a choice..." Another man approached them.  
  
Phi and Alex gulped as they recognized Dausael. Tom looked from their frightened faces to the second man, unsure of the new situation, and was shocked as Alex and Phi moved forward into the building. He fingered the tip of the sword that he didn't know how to use at his side and followed the two into the hall.  
  
A/N: Wheee...okay, I wrote more... I know this one is shorter, but I also didn't have as much time to write!! I'll attempt to update soon! (muttering about ungrateful readers insulting my intelligence...). 


	29. Chapter 29

A/N: Okay...let's see now...what should happen next? Um...I know!

Tom, Phi and Alex's View

Tom carefully studied the darkened stone hallway as they were escorted through it, unsure of what was going to happen to them. Alex kept giving him this look like we-are-so-dead but he didn't understand how they could be so afraid of a man. The only thing that he noticed that was slightly unnerving was a rather large sword at the man's side, but so what? He had a sword too. Tom also felt something tugging at the back of his mind, like he knew Dausael from somewhere, but he didn't at the same time.

He tried to shake the feeling off as Dausael's guard led them into a very large room at the end of the hallway, and then it hit him. This Dausael guy was the man that he had seen in his vision, the one with the glowing sword. He looked harder at the man's face as Dausael turned around and sat down on his throne while the three stood in front of him. Their gazes met and a creepy smile crept onto the Scanran's face, "So, I finally have the third traveler...good. But it seems that you two were not disposed of as I had commanded. Hmm...I will have to look into that later, now it seems that I have a slight situation on my hands. My dungeon was destroyed by my own soldier, the rest of them have been killed, a large force of Tortallian troops are searching for you three as we speak, and I am really the only one left who is able to fight...but I pity he who thinks you have a chance, because you haven't, not by a long shot."

Alex glanced at Phi and Tom, then turned back to Dausael, "So what do you plan to do now?"

"Ahh, but that is the beauty of my plan. Seeing that I do not have the time to get the information I was seeking from you, I have decided that the best thing for us Scanrans is if I kill you so that you don't have the chance to give the Tortallians any useful information."

Tom stepped in front of Phi and Alex and drew his sword, "I would like to see you try..."

Dausael laughed and Phi looked at Tom, "What are you doing!"

The Scanran stood and drew his own sword, "Let's see how good you are boy!"

Alex jumped next to Tom and grabbed his weapon, "Let me. You have no experience, even less than I do, with a sword." Tom nodded and released the blade as the Scanran chief took a step closer.

Alex braced himself and moved his feet into a defensive stance as Dausael's first blow fell. The boy was thrown back a few inches and grimaced from the impact. The Scanran made a couple more attempts to knock Alex off balance, but he was obviously just playing with them. Suddenly, the man pulled back, "It seems that you have a good sense of balance, but let's se how good your reflexes are!"

Alex looked at the commander in surprise, "What the...?" but wasn't able to finish his sentence as Dausael's blade began to glow that blood red color and a burst of the Gift shot out of the tip of the broadsword like a laser cannon. Alex cried out in pain and the magic made contact with his body square in the chest and both he and the sword went flying.

Phi yelled and ran over to Alex, who was lying unconscious about twenty feet away from where he was standing just moments ago, "Alex! Please be alright..." She shook him and lifted his head up as he blinked his eyes open.

Alex grinned up at her, "Watch out for that..." She sighed with relief and stood up, picking up the sword that he had dropped, and charged at Dausael. The man laughed again and let loose another magic fire ball of doom thingy, but she was able to dodge it and was only two feet away when his guard ran up from beside her and slashed her with his sword. Phi stumbled and Tom rushed up to her, ignoring the guard, and pushed her out of Dausael's way as the man was just about to use his own sword to take off her head.

Alex forced himself up onto his feet and grabbed at his chest, which was slightly singed from Dausael's magic and tackled the guard who was just about to go back and help his commander. The guard definitely would have won if Alex had not managed to grab a dagger that was at the man's side and use it to cut him with in the back of his leg. The guard howled in pain and fell to the side and Alex went to help Tom and Phi, who were basically attempting to dodge Dausael's blows.

"Enough!" Cried the Scanran, "This has gone on long enough..." A new light entered his eyes and more of his Gift surged into his sword.

Phi and Tom paled, while Alex, who was battling with unconsciousness, looked at the weapon, "Does that look like a light saber to anyone else, or is it just me?"

Tom, never taking his eyes off their attacker, replied tersely, "No, just you..."

The red magic pulsed and expanded until the glow moved up the blade and engulfed Dausael's entire body, "It is time to end this..."

A huge ball of energy began form at the tip of his sword, and Tom grabbed Phi and Alex and threw them and himself to the ground just as Dausael's gift exploded from his blade and hurdled towards the three.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. As the huge surge of magic hit its mark, the heavy double wooden doors were flung open and several cries rang out from the rescuers that had come a second to late. Phi screamed in pain while Alex reached out and held her close and Tom collapsed limply on top of them, being the one that had taken most of the hit.

Alanna and Raoul, who, along with Devic, were leading the group of knights, ran in with their swords drawn and cut Dausael down on the spot before he could even raise his own weapon.

Devic's sword clattered to the ground and he raced over to the three with unruly tears welling up in his eyes, "Gods...Alex, Phi...Tom, please be alive..."

Kel, Merric, Esmond, Owen, and Dom walked slowly over and helped Devic pull them apart and lay them out flat on the ground. Duke Baird rushed over and quickly examined Tom, who was the closest one to him, with his Gift. As his light blue magic ran from his hands into the boy, he sighed with relief, "He is still breathing, but his pulse is weak. His back also seems to be badly burnt along with the palm of his right hand..." He moved over to Phi, "She will be fine too, although it seems that she has inhaled a lot of smoke into her lungs and she hasn't eaten much for the past few days..." By this point Alanna and Raoul had returned to the rest of the group and were talking hurriedly to each other about the advancement of Scanran troops.

Duke Baird ignored them and moved towards Alex, "He seems to be in much of the same condition as Phi is, except he has a burn like Tom's on his chest that should be tended to..." The mage grimaced and he turned to the older knights, "I can't heal them all alone, I need some help from another mage..."

The Lioness stepped forward, "I can help."

"I'm afraid that they also should be treated in a better environment than this as well if we want them to heal completely from this ordeal..."

Devic looked at his friends and a determined look spread across his face, "Is there anything I can do now, to help them at least until we get back to the Palace?"

The duke smiled tiredly, "I suppose we could all try to ease their pain as much as we can, but they also probably won't be awake for hours, maybe days...I'm not sure..."

Just then Alex stirred and raised himself onto his elbows, "...am I dead?" They all stared at him in surprise. He turned and looked over at Phi and Tom and grinned, "Nope...hurts to much ta be dead..." With that he fell back down to the ground, and back into unconsciousness.

Devic looked at Duke Baird who was staring at Alex, "Um...was he supposed to do that?"

The mage turned back to the page and grinned, "Well I didn't see it coming, but I would guess that that is a good sign..."

Kel moved over to Phi and began to lift her up, "Well, I think that we had better get these three loaded up and head towards the Palace."

Alanna nodded, and helped to carry the girl over to her own horse, while Dom and Raoul carried Tom over to Raoul's horse and Alex was carried by Merric and Owen to Esmond's horse, who was busy trying to saddle up and make room for a second rider.

After everyone was ready to go, Raoul motioned for the group to begin riding and they galloped off as quickly as they could manage, back to Conte.

A/N: Well that ending of the chapter stunk...oh well, ya win some, ya lose some. I hope all of you enjoyed my insane, made-up story line and that you keep reading to see what happens next! (P.S: Thank you all for the nice reviews...I appreciate them sniff anyway, um... ya...please review more if you haven't recently!)


	30. Chapter 30

A/N: All right...*sigh*...The final chapter of my story...*sniffle* WHY DID IT HAVE TO COME SO SOON!?! Wait a minute, I have all ready written 29 chapters...I suppose that's enough for one story.  
  
***Tom, Phi and Alex's View***  
  
Phi slowly sat up and shook her head, trying to clear it. As her vision returned, the first thing that she noticed was that they were not in the Scanran fortress anymore. In fact, she was lying in a bedroom, her bedroom back in the Palace.  
  
Phi sighed and gingerly flexed her arms and legs, and happily discovering that they, although her left arm and head were covered in clean bandages, were all still there and working. She shivered as she remembered the stories her dad and Tom used to tell her about medicine in her middle ages, how they used to use leeches and cut off limbs. Tom! She jumped out of her bed, sending her pillows and blankets flying as she stumbled trying to regain her balance. It had been a while since she had used her legs and her muscles were unused to any amount of physical activity.  
  
She pulled herself up and finally made it to her chamber door, yanking it open. Phi stumbled to her right and tried the handle to Tom and Alex's door. Locked. She kneeled down because it took too much effort to stand and began to fiddle with the lock on their door, sticking a pin that was holding some of her bandages together into the keyhole and wiggling it around.  
  
As she heard a tiny click, she tried the handle again, silently congratulated herself when it opened, and rushed inside. Alex was still asleep, but her brother was sitting up in his bed reading a book. She launched herself onto him as he laughed in surprise. After hugging him, Phi pulled away and looked at his hand curiously. It seemed healed, but the skin that had gotten burned seemed to be a lighter shade then the rest of his palm. When she looked up at him he shrugged, "It doesn't hurt anymore, but they say I'll probably have the scar for the rest of my life..."  
  
Phi frowned and turned to look at Alex, who had bandages wrapped around his chest, as did Tom, "Is he going to be all right?"  
  
Tom put his book down, seeing that Phi wasn't going back to her room anytime soon and adjusted his position so that she wasn't cutting the circulation out of his right leg, "Actually, the Duke expected him to come around before you did, but he said that he's been wrong before too..."  
  
"Hmm...How long have we been out?"  
  
"When I woke up, they'd said it had been about four days," Phi's jaw dropped, "But that was a day and a half ago too, so it's probably been about five to six days..."  
  
"Five to six days?!"  
  
"Ya well, what they told me is that our injuries knocked us out after a bit, then the magic they used to heal us knocked us out even more, and the fact that the two of you hadn't eaten in a couple days didn't help."  
  
At the mention of the word "eaten", Phi's stomach growled and Tom grinned and pointed to a plate that was on his bedside table, "Would you like some, um...bread and cold soup? It came an hour ago, but I wasn't that hungry."  
  
She nodded and quickly devoured the offered food, even the soup, "Thanks...I needed that..."  
  
Tom smiled, "You could've also just asked for more, new food too..."  
  
"Ask who?" Just then the door to their room opened to reveal the Duke and Neal.  
  
The Duke smiled as his eyes fell on Phi, "Well, well, well, it looks like someone woke up ahead of schedule...But then again, I probably should have expected as much from one of you...I'll have one of the servants bring you up some food, although it looks as if you've already eaten..."  
  
Phi looked down at the crumbs on her shirt, blushed, then brushed them off as Neal came over to her, "And you even managed to walk all the way over to this room too. You must be feeling better..." As the Duke walked over to Alex to check on him, Neal sent his Gift into Phi to check out her health status, "Yes, just as I figured. Your wounds are healing nicely and I don't think you should have any lasting scars like these two."  
  
Phi frowned and looked over at Alex, but didn't say anything until the two healers had left, "When did Neal get back?"  
  
Tom thought for a moment, "Dom came in and said that he came in the second day we were here, and has been helping his dad with the healing since..."  
  
"So, what scars will Alex have?"  
  
"They told me that he will have a couple on his chest, nothing bad, just a few scratches where the tissues came back together when they were healing him, but that is all, nothing serious. Of course you were the lucky one, coming out with none at all..."  
  
She grinned but turned quickly around (almost falling off Tom's bed) when they heard Alex move around. He rolled onto his stomach and rested his head on his arms, looking up at his two friends, "Good morning..."  
  
Tom laughed, "Morning? It's like two in the afternoon! And it's about time your up!"  
  
The other boy grinned and lifted himself onto his elbows, "Well I hope that I haven't kept you all waiting, but by the looks of it, I would say I haven't..."  
  
Phi shook her head, "Guess how long it's been..."  
  
"Three days..."  
  
"Nope. Higher."  
  
"Four."  
  
"Nope, higher."  
  
"A year?!"  
  
She laughed and shook her head, "Way lower, go back to your previous guess and work from there..."  
  
"Five?" Phi nodded, "It's been five days?" He groaned and sat up in his bed, letting his feet fall off the side, "It only feels like an hour...except I'm wiped..."  
  
Tom grinned, "I wonder why..."  
  
Alex was just about to respond with a "witty" response when their door opened again and Numair and Daine came in, "Ah! All three of you are awake! Duke Baird said that only two of you were conscious! Good to see that all of you have pulled through so well. Anyway, I just came into tell you that I have finally perfected the spell for getting you back to your dimension. I thought that you should be the first to know, so I haven't told anyone else yet..."  
  
Tom looked excited, "You'll have to show me how you did it before we leave..."  
  
The mage nodded and Daine interrupted, "We should go tell the King now Numair, you told him last week that he would be the first to know if you discovered anything important..."  
  
"Oh yes I did, didn't I..." He waved to the three, "We'll call on you later today or early tomorrow then..."  
  
The three nodded and waved back as he walked out while talking excitedly with Daine about something or another. Phi sighed, "It's strange, ya know? I will be happy to go home and all, but I was just beginning to get used to this place."  
  
Tom's smile faded and he looked thoughtful, "It was great being here, like coming into a dream, with knights, dragons, and magic...but we can't stay here. We wouldn't fit in and we would probably screw up their culture or something."  
  
Alex walked shakily over to Tom's bed and sat down on the edge, "It will be nice going home though. Think of all the things we are going back to, like TV, the Internet, movies...pizza. Pizza sounds really good right now...I wonder if they could make it here?" Tom looked at him funny and Alex shrugged his shoulders, "It was just an idea..."  
  
Phi zoned out for a moment, then looked at the two boys, "Do you think that time has passed in our world?"  
  
Tom frowned thoughtfully, "I wouldn't see why not. I mean, we traveled over dimensions, not time..."  
  
Alex suddenly realized what Phi was thinking about, "So what are we going to tell our families we were doing for almost a month?"  
  
They went silent for a few more minutes before Tom started to think out loud, "They probably have already called the police and they might think that we have been...kidnapped or something...we might be able to play off that idea..."  
  
Phi looked at her brother, "Well, in a way, Alex and I were kidnapped, so it wouldn't be lying, kind of..."  
  
Alex shrugged, "Let's just wait and see what happens when we get back before we start making up excuses...I think that two thirds of us have had enough practice making them up that we should be able to wing it pretty well..."  
  
Tom grinned, "Good point..."  
  
After another hour or so, which Phi, Tom, and Alex spent talking about different things, King Jonathan came into their chamber after knocking first, "I'm glad to see that you are all well. Numair has just informed me that the spell to send you back to your own world is ready...Will you all be able to make it down to the courtyard, or do you need some assistance?"  
  
Tom looked at his companions, "No, I think we can make it on our own fine..."  
  
The king nodded and led them down the stairs and out of the Palace to the courtyard that was in front of the building, "I apologize for having you walk so far, but if we let Numair do the spell inside the Palace, it would probably destroy the entire room that we were in."  
  
Alex grinned, "It's no problem...We need the walk, right Phi?" He turned to the girl who was beginning to limp a little as they neared the group out in the middle of the courtyard. Phi gave him a small glare, then looked at the gathering group in front of them and blushed. It seemed that most of the people that they had gotten to know in Tortall were there; Alanna, Raoul, Kel, Dom, Neal, Merric, Owen, Esmond, Devic, some of the other first year pages, Duke Baird, the king of course, Daine, and of course Numair. The mage rubbed his hands together in anticipation and stepped over to Tom. He handed the boy something and smiled, "These are for you three, from all of us. It isn't much, just three protection charms that will keep you safe no matter where you go in the future." Tom took the necklaces gratefully and handed them out to Phi and Alex. They were beautiful, carved out in the shape of a lion's head with a sun around it.  
  
Devic walked up to them and Phi saw that his eyes were wet. She grinned and gave him a hug, "I'll miss you back in the other world. Just stay out of trouble kid, okay?" He nodded and smiled as Kel and her friends came up and shook each of the three's hand and wished them good luck.  
  
Finally, after everyone had said their good-byes, Numair waved everyone to step back, rolled up the sleeves on his black robe and began to focus very hard on the air in front of him. All the mages in the group, including Tom, looked on curiously as Numair's black magic flowed from his hands and formed a vertical line in the air. The line split to form a kind of doorway that was about ten feet wide and fifteen feet high...very large for a spell. As the sides of the lines drew apart, a picture began to form in the center. It was a little fuzzy, but Phi, Alex, and Tom recognized it immediately. It was Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, where they had gotten sucked to Tortall from in the first place.  
  
As the hole in the air grew larger, air currents began to pull the three closer towards the opening, and by the time it was fully opened, they were about four feet away from it. The currents of air grew stronger and Phi, Alex, and Tom felt a now semi-familiar sensation of being tugged by an invisible force and they were thrown into the hole, just as they were when they last traveled through dimensions. Tom turned around just as they were passing through and caught a glimpse of Numair coming in front of the opening to close it up again. When he managed to turn around, they were almost out of the trans-dimensional tunnel, and as they hit the other side, everything went black.  
  
Alex moaned and forced his eyes open. His head was pounding and he felt strange. He sat up and shook his head, noticing that Phi and Tom were laying on his left and were just beginning to wake up too. Suddenly, a wave of memories hit him and his hand flew to his neck. The necklace that Numair gave them, it was there. He laughed and looked at Phi and Tom, "You guys! We're home! And it was real, it was all real!"'  
  
Tom grinned and looked at him strangely, "Of course it was. Were you expecting it to be a dream or something?"  
  
"Well I had my doubts..."  
  
Phi glanced at him as she stood up, "Well you can't get hurt in a dream, and all of us got pretty beaten up..."  
  
"Good point. But it seemed too good to be true. Wait a minute...are we speaking in English or Tortallian?"  
  
Tom looked at Phi then turned back to Alex, "I think...Tortallian. This doesn't sound like English to me."  
  
Phi shook her head and switched to English, "Weird..."  
  
Alex stood up with Tom's help, "Ya no kidding...Hey! Now I'm tri- lingual! I know Spanish, English, and Tortallian!"  
  
Tom laughed and turned towards the parking lot, "I wouldn't go bragging about it. People would probably try to have you locked up if you went around speaking Tortallian. No one else here knows it...which is pretty cool. We have our own language now!"  
  
Phi stopped in her tracks and turned to Tom, "...How do you know where the parking lot is?"  
  
"That's easy, I can hear the cars..." He stopped to and looked at Phi, "Could we hear cars before?"  
  
"I don't think so...Numair must have gotten the spot wrong by about half a mile...at least it's the right park..."  
  
Alex shrugged and kept on walking. When they reached the parking lot, he fell to his knees and patted the pavement, "Ah sweet concrete, how I missed you..."  
  
Tom laughed, then looked around, "Very nice...oh shit."  
  
Phi looked up, surprised to hear her brother swear, "What?"  
  
"My car's gone."  
  
They looked around, and sure enough, the car was nowhere to be found. Alex grimaced and looked at Tom, "So how are we going to get home?"  
  
Tom sighed and began to walk along the side walk next to the parking lot towards the city, "Find a phone...call our parents...won't this be fun..."  
  
Phi walked next to her brother, "Just think of it this way, a short hike through San Francisco is nothing compared to a three and a half day ride through a Tortallian forest on horseback..."  
  
Tom smiled, "Good point..."  
  
Finally, after about an hour of walking, they found a business that would let them make a quick phone call for free. Tom sighed again and dialed his house, "Hello? Mom, um...ya, this is Tom. Alex and Phi are with me and we need a ride home.  
  
A/N: So, as you can see, I left plenty of room for a sequel. But don't get your hopes up! I will only write one if I get enough public support for it because frankly, there's no point in writing one if no one is going to read it, right? Oh, it would also take me at least a couple weeks to get it started because I would have to think of a sketchy plot line first. Anyway, this is the end of this story! PLEASE R&R SO I KNOW HOW YOU ALL LIKED IT!!! 


	31. Author's Note

Author's Note:  
  
Yay! So, you're finished with the first story, are ya? So, how did you like it?  
  
The next story you're gonna want to go to (If you want to continue in my trilogy that is) is "What the? Not again..." to see what happens to my characters later in their exciting lives... and I hope (if you enjoyed this one) that you'll enjoy my second installment even better.  
  
I hope the original commentary and author's notes didn't bother anyone too much, but, uh... I was too lazy to take them all off. You must try to excuse the grammer/spelling/writing mistakes for this first one, and some of the second one...I wrote these a long time ago (or so it seems to me) and I promise my style will improve! (At least a little...) So hang on! This is just the beginning...  
  
- your friendly neighborhood ShadowPirate 


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